Walker Not Planning to Help Resolve Prosser Case

An ethics complaint against state Supreme Court Justice David Prosser remains in legal limbo. Gov. Scott Walker told reporters Tuesday he doesn’t want to propose an alternative solution to the problem because it might upset the balance between the three branches of government.

Walker was asked whether he thinks an independent panel ought to be established to hear ethics cases against Supreme Court justices. That might solve the problem facing the court now as two members of the court have recused themselves from considering the charge that Justice Prosser violated the ethics code by putting his hands around Justice Anne Walsh Bradley’s neck during an argument last summer. The governor says as head of the executive branch he prefers to tread lightly on telling another branch of government what to do,

“Certainly, I think any level of government be it the executive, legislative or judicial branch, in this state we want to have something that instills confidence. In terms of what alternatives to me it would be premature to comment.”

But the current deadlock does not instill confidence according to attorney Franklyn Gimbel who is prosecuting the ethics case against Prosser for the state judicial commission. He says the judicial disciplinary process is not broken it just needs to be allowed to operate. He says whether or not the Supreme Court ultimately disciplines Prosser a three judge appeals court panel should be appointed to hear the case, “At the end of the day if there is ever a hearing there will at least have been a ventilating of whether or not Justice Prosser engaged in ethical misbehavior on this particular day and this procedural play that’s going on right now is very unfortunate because it sidesteps accountability.”

The chief appeals court judge has refused to appoint the independent panel without a formal order from the court.