| Venue: |
Western District of WI
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| Facts: |
WI Right To Life sends surveys to judicial candidates. Several
decline to answer, citing WI SCR 60.04(4) and 60.06(3)(b). |
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| Posture: |
This is the district court. |
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| Issue: |
Do these rules unconstitutionally restrict free speech of these
candidates? |
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| Holding: |
Some rules do, some do not. Motion granted. |
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| Rule: |
Strict scrutiny, again. |
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| Reasoning: |
There are five rules. We will discuss only four, because of editing.
- A judge may not be swayed by partisan interests. No problem here,
as far as the survey is concerned.
- Extra-judicial activities may not cast doubt on the judge's ability
to act impartially. There are rules likethis all over the
place-- no problem.
- A judge shall not make pledges or promises with respect to issues
or controversies likely to come before the court. This would
be an unconstitutional restriction on responding to the survey.
- Judges must recuse themselves from proceedings when they've made a
public statement committing themselves to an issue in it. This
is unconstitutionally overbroad.
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| Dicta: |
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