This opinion is subject to further editing. If published, the official version will appear in the bound volume of the Official Reports. A party may file with the Supreme Court a petition to review an adverse decision by the Court of Appeals. J.Monroe Swan filed this action against the secretary of state and the attorney general after he was denied the opportunity to become a notary public due to prior federal felony convictions. The complaint requested a declaratory ruling that the 1996 amendment to article XIII, section 3 of the Wisconsin Constitution prohibiting convicted felons from holding an office of public trust is a violation of the United States Constitution and therefore invalid.
Swan appeals the trial court's order dismissing the complaint for failure to state any claim.
We conclude the amendment is not an ex post facto law and is not in violation of the Equal Protection or Due Process clauses of the United States Constitution, and we therefore affirm. The amendment to article XIII, section 3 restricts persons convicted of a felony and certain misdemeanors in any court within the United States from holding offices of public trust unless pardoned of the conviction. The complaint alleged that after ratification of the amendment, Swan, who had previously been convicted of federal felonies, requested application materials from the Wisconsin Secretary of State's office to become a notary public. Along with the application materials, Swan received a notice to all applicants, which stated that a notary public commission would be denied to all persons who had been convicted of a felony and had not received a pardon. The complaint also asserted that, because the felonies were federal crimes and he could not be pardoned for them by the governor of the State of Wisconsin, the amendment denied him equal protection of the law, as guaranteed by the United States Constitution.