Germantown has recently completed its voting in the primary election where the sole race was that for the new Supreme Court Justice to fill a soon-to-be-vacant seat. That election saw very low turn-out which is not uncommon…but which reminds us that voting is our right, and a right we should not so easily relinquish.
Two people will be on the spring ballot for this seat. This is a critically important election for several reasons. Once a judge takes his or her seat, they are almost never “unelected” in subsequent races. That means that this election is likely to determine the make-up of the Wisconsin Supreme Court for the next decade.
Our court today is comprised of 7 justices; 4 typically favor the socially liberal view and three the socially conservative side in the issues before the court. The coming election gives us voters a very clear choice between the liberal and conservative perspectives.
The retiring justice is a social conservative. If we elect a liberal justice for this seat, the court tilts to a 5 to 2 liberal court. If we elect a conservative justice, the court stays at the 4 to 3 configuration which is still liberal but not so lopsided that one couldn’t hope for the occasional “miracle” decision.
The two people in the race are Washington County Circuit Judge Annette Zeigler (the conservative) and Madison attorney Linda Clifford (the liberal). Judge Zeigler has a record of decisions that tell us she does not believe in an “activist” court. Attorney Clifford has no such court decision record but is a Madison liberal who has been in private practice for three decades, has represented the ACLU side of various issues, and has spoken out against the so called “gay marriage ban” calling it unconstitutional and stating that it violates U.S. Supreme Court holdings.
In my opinion, we should be able to see which way each candidate likely would view critical constitutional issues. A 5 to 2 socially liberal court could easily become a liberal activist court legislating from the bench and making decisions that affect us for the rest of our lives and the lives of our children and grandchildren. Its liberal leanings would not be restricted solely to social issues. It almost certainly would be an anti-business court, as well. That combination does not bode well for our state.
While Judge Zeigler won some 57% of the vote in the primary, do not let that lull you into thinking that she has already won the seat. Zeigler spent more money than did Clifford [who actually had and has more money in her campaign war chest than Ziegler]. The third candidate, also a Dane County attorney, siphoned some of the Clifford support away since he was also appealing to socially liberal voters.
Remember that Dane County votes 90% + liberal and that the liberal machine turns out the vote. Remember too that Wisconsin re-elected Governor Doyle, and gave the State Senate to
