I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised concerning the Wisconsin legislature’s reaction to the judge’s order that special elections be held for those two open spots. From Stephen Wolf on The Daily Kos:
On Thursday, a state court judge in Wisconsin ordered Republican Gov. Scott Walker to promptly call special elections for two legislative seats that he’d let lie vacant since December, which would’ve deprived those voters of representation for nearly a year. But those special elections still might not take place: Even though the judge in question, Dane County Circuit Judge Josann Reynolds, was a Walker appointee, Republicans in the legislature reacted to her decision with terrifying anti-democratic furor the following day, with state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald saying he’ll advance legislation to overturn Reynolds’s ruling.
Fitzgerald did not stop there. He demanded that the chief justice of the state Supreme Court discipline Reynolds for “politicizing” her ruling and called Reynolds’s judicial district, which is anchored by the state capital of Madison, a “laughingstock.” In a final Orwellian twist, Fitzgerald declared, “Nobody’s trying to slow down or halt anything related to an election,” which is exactly what he’s trying to do.
There are no rules that apply to a Republican Party that believes itself the blessed of God, especially one that dominates the legislature and holds the Governor’s office in Wisconsin.
It’s disappointing. I suppose next we’ll see Judge Reynolds asked to leave the Party, perhaps even RINOed out, and it’ll be too bad because she appears to be one who has a higher allegiance than only to the Party.
And these are the types of actions that bid fair to cause the Democrats to be equally careless of the law when they take power, I fear. I know the North Carolina GOP used the actions of the North Carolina Democrats from 20 or 30 years ago as an excuse for their wretched clutching of power, and I will not be surprised if, in a decade, the Democrats, faced with a challenge from the opposition, whether that be GOP or whatever replaces the GOP when it implodes, decide their lust for power justifies any action.
Rather than justice being the key.
