WISCONSIN VOTERS FIGHT BACK:  A group of 5 Wisconsin voters just filed a motion to dismiss Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson’s federal lawsuit, in which she frivolously asserts that she has a constitutionally protected “property interest” in her position as Chief Justice– that Wisconsin voters “deprived” her of by enacting a state constitutional amendment.

The amendment expresses the will of Wisconsin voters that their state supreme court’s Chief Justice should be selected by the 7 court justices, and term-limited to 2 years.  It is widely speculated that, pursuant to this new amendment, the 7 justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court (the majority of whom are conservative) will select another Chief, leaving Abrahamson (an outspoken liberal) on the court as an “ordinary” justice.  Call the cops– this constitutional deprivation must be stopped!

Abrahamson’s intense desire to remain as Chief Justice has caused her to behave erratically.  Her complaint asserts, for example, that the amendment shouldn’t take effect until the expiration of her 10-year term, in 2019. But this directly contradicts an opinion she penned for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2002, in which she declared, “[U]nless a constitutional amendment provides otherwise, it takes effect upon the certification of a statewide canvass of the votes.”

RELATED:  Abrahamson’s zeal also may get herself into ethics trouble, as she declared on April 6, under penalty of perjury, that voters had approved the amendment.  The amendment, however, was not approved by Wisconsin voters until April 7.  This may sound like a technicality, but it is an ethical lapse, in which she swore to the truth of various facts that did not actually exist at the time.  At a minimum, it shows she is a very sloppy lawyer.

Stay tuned:  Wisconsin politics–even in the judicial branch–are notoriously entertaining and, er, robust.