It seems to be the classic scenario of what happens when liberal Democrats assume power just about anywhere you turn. But in this case, if there are enough "irregularities" floating about, it could have some impactful consequences for next year's presidential election. The institution in question is the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The Badger State's highest court had been in the hands of conservatives for 15 years until an election in April, where Liberals gained a 4-3 majority on the court. On August 1, Janet Protasiewicz became the court's newest justice. Curiously, that is when the trouble began. And now, conservative Chief Justice Annette Ziegler has accused the court's liberal majority of staging a "coup," and called the moves by the new liberal majority "an illegal experiment."

Chief Justice Ziegler accused #liberal justices of a "walking quorum." Per #Wisconsin DOJ website, the WI Supreme Court has commented that "any attempt to avoid the appearance of a meeting through the use of a walking quorum is subject to PROSECUTION under the open meetings… pic.twitter.com/eYN6R65KPI

— Wisconsin Right Now (@wisconsin_now) August 28, 2023

It didn't take the liberals on the court long to go about changing procedure, and step one was to undermine the top conservative. They created a committee to handle duties that were previously handled by Ziegler. According to Ziegler, who was elected by the previous conservative majority to a second two-year term in May as Chief Justice, this significantly weakened her. State Court Director Randy Koschnick was fired and replaced by interim state court director Audrey Skwierawski. Ziegler says that Skierawski immediately began signing orders in her name without Ziegler's knowledge or approval. Ziegler has also said that she will begin a nationwide search for a new state court director. 

As might be expected, the scathing emails have begun to fly back and forth. In an email to her fellow justices and to Skierawski, Ziegler called out the actions of the liberal justices, saying in part:

“You are making a mess of the judiciary, the court and the institution for years to come. This must stop. ... I have no confidence in the recent hostile takeover and the chaotic effect it has had on the court, staff, and the overall stable functioning of the courts.”

Liberal Justice Rebecca Dallet fired back, saying she was "disappointed" that Ziegler was bringing the court chaos to the attention of Wisconsinites, and claimed the actions taken were constitutional. She also replied to Ziegler's email claiming a sort of victimhood:

 “We are simply creating process so that a majority of the court can effectively work in the face of an intransigent and uncollegial chief who apparently insists on a public debate about issues for political purposes, rather than allow a court majority to function as it always has."

The next email exchange to fly was between Ziegler and Skierawski, with Ziegler ordering Skierawski to cease signing orders in her name. She wrote in part:

“It has come to my attention that you have been signing my reserve judge orders without my knowledge or approval. You never asked me for permission. You do not have my permission. Stop. These orders are in my name. You have no lawful authority to sign them. If you have signed anything else under my name, please advise immediately.”

Skierawski responded with, “I had the legal authority and responsibility as well as the moral obligation to sign the orders for reserve judges." The fact that Audrey Skierawski had the boldness to respond to Ziegler's request in that manner makes it fairly clear that the new liberal majority is attempting to erode any authority that the conservative Chief Justice has. Chief Justice Ziegler must be getting that same sense. In addition to refusing to schedule any meetings with the new committee, calling it "invented," she sent a second email to Justices that said:

“Again, I will not condone such lawless destruction of the constitution, the judiciary, or the court. This is nothing short of an unprecedented coup. For 40 years, the role of the Chief Justice has been understood and respected. Your short term goals will cause long term, irreparable damage to the judiciary. What a historical disgrace.”

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has flipped to liberal control for the first time in 15 years. This could reshape the state’s politics and elections, as the court may rule on voting rights, redistricting, and other issues.

— Billy Snider (@sniderstyle) August 27, 2023

But in a further attempt to portray Ziegler as the villain, Dallet wrote back, “Let me be crystal clear. The attempt to obstruct the proper business of the court and the furtherance of justice comes from you.” 

It seems liberal Democrats can only operate in one of two ways. When they are in the majority, they see it as a mandate to change rules and procedures at will. When they are in the minority, they will claim victimhood status and claim they are the ones being bullied. It is a finely tuned racket. But in the case of Wisconsin, drama on the high court could be a problem in 2024. With razor-thin majorities either way in many states, the thinking is that in 2024, the election of the 47th President of the United States could come down to a handful of states, and Wisconsin is very much in that mix. The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty examined several aspects of the 2020 election in Wisconsin and found such things as some local practices being inconsistent with state law and voter rolls not properly maintained. 

There may be one job duty liberal justices thankfully forgot to strip Chief Justice Ziegler of, a duty to let the citizens of Wisconsin know how their Supreme Court is being run.

Wisconsin Supreme Court getting spicy! And of course, it's the liberal justices that are violating ethics and laws.
But since when did that ever bother them when you consider the policies of ignoring laws as activists with considerable bias. https://t.co/53xnDDajbm

— Jason Szemborski (@SzemborskiJason) August 28, 2023