Court Opinion

ID: 9729008
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 14:24:07.192955+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:53.597141
License: Public Domain

N. PATRICK CROOKS, J.
¶ 1. {concurring). While I concur in the order dismissing this matter, based on the unopposed motion of the petitioners, I write in order to respond to the lengthy concurrence of Justice David T. Prosser.
¶ 2. Several years ago, Grant County Circuit Court Judge Richard W Orton, a distinguished trial judge, ordered summary judgment in a case. In doing so, he characterized the plaintiffs' case as "hogwash, pure hogwash." That phrase aptly fits those portions of the concurrence of Justice Prosser where he denigrates the actions of members of this court. The following unfair and inaccurate phrases are used in his concurrence: the court "used every imaginable pretext to avoid making a decision" (¶ 16); the "court did not care" (¶ 17); was "indifferent" to the facts of the case (¶ 23); was "overwhelmed by the difficulty of the facts and issues" and "threw up its hands" (¶ 28).
¶ 3. The fact is that this court spent many, many hours working on the petition asking to commence an original action, as well as on the various submissions of the petitioners, the respondents, and the amicus. The October 31, 2006 order of this court accurately sets forth the extensive efforts that were made to try to get this matter into an appropriate posture, so that a decision could be made as to whether to grant the petition, and thus, take this case invoking our original jurisdiction. We did, of course, ultimately take the case once there were no factual disputes. This court grants *166petitions for original jurisdiction " 'with the greatest reluctance ... especially where questions of fact are involved Petition of Heil, 230 Wis. 428, 436, 284 N.W 42 (1939) (citing State ex rel. Hartung v. City of Milwaukee, 102 Wis. 509, 78 N.W. 756 (1899)).
¶ 4. The March 12, 2007 order of this court came in response to the changes brought about by the legislature and the governor in eliminating the State Elections Board and the State Ethics Board, and in creating a new Government Accountability Board. That new board has the authority to review, and, by its action or inaction, to affirm or nullify decisions by the two boards that were eliminated. See 2007 Wis. Act 1, § 209(2)(e). The settlement of this case came shortly after we issued that order, asking the parties whether oral argument should be scheduled despite the changes, or whether it was prudent to wait until the new Government Accountability Board had an opportunity to act or decline to act.
¶ 5. Much is made in the concurrence of Justice Prosser about how this court was once a "great court," and how we no longer fit that description. Justice Prosser's concurrence, ¶¶ 16, 37. In order to be a "great court," I believe that the members of such a court must be persons who care deeply about truth, justice, and fairness. I have great respect for my colleagues on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, but it is for others, not for us, to judge whether we continue to be a "great court." What I observed in the handling of this case by my colleagues convinced me that each of them cared deeply about truth, justice, and fairness for the parties. To denigrate, now, their actions is wrong and I must, therefore, respond to such unfair and inaccurate characterizations of the court and its actions in this case. Accordingly, I respectfully concur.