Quick background, as to why you should care: Judge Flanagan has placed a temporary (although you can count on the Democrats wanting to put that adjective in scare quotes, and right quickly) restraining order on last year’s Wisconsin voter reform law mandating that voters show picture ID. There are a few “this just happens” involved, here:
- This just happens to prevent Voter ID from being implemented in Wisconsin’s open Presidential primary in April 3rd. Normally that wouldn’t be all that big a deal, except that this year the Democrats are openly calling for disrupting the Republican nomination process.
- This just happens to be a judge who last year signed a recall petition against Governor Scott Walker. And Flanagan neglected to admit to this event, prior to making his decision.
- And this just happens to be a judge who has former Kathleen Falk (and current Wisconsin Education Association Council) adviser Melissa Mulliken as his campaign manager. This is important because Falk is of course running against Scott Walker in the recall election – and WEAC has preemptively endorsed Falk. Also, Mulliken has been prominent in the anti-Walker crusade.
None of this is illegal, of course. Shenanigans on this level usually are. And even a judge may sign a petition. But Flanagan is far too entangled in this situation for comfort; he should have recused himself, or at least preemptively acted to remove any questions about his impartiality. The fact that the judge instead kept quiet about them until the media started bringing it up is itself a lapse of judgement – and that s a particularly damning thing to say about a judge…
Moe Lane (crosspost)
PS: And, for the record: the Left is not actually allowed to pick and choose who gets the benefit of the doubt, and who does not. If they cannot live under their own set of rules, then they should abandon that ruleset and replace it with a viable one. And if they do not like hearing that… good.