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Justice, at Last, in Wisconsin
Of all the recent attempts to criminalize political speech, there probably haven’t been any quite as breathtaking as the “John Doe” investigations undertaken in Wisconsin to intimidate supporters of conservative causes and politicians — especially, of course, Scott Walker. Here’s how David French memorably described one of the many instances of harassment the investigations birthed in a May piece in National Review:
“It’s a matter of life and death.” That was the first thought of “Anne” (not her real name). Someone was pounding at her front door. It was early in the morning — very early — and it was the kind of heavy pounding that meant someone was either fleeing from — or bringing — trouble. “It was so hard. I’d never heard anything like it. I thought someone was dying outside.” She ran to the door, opened it, and then chaos. “People came pouring in. For a second I thought it was a home invasion. It was terrifying. They were yelling and running, into every room in the house. One of the men was in my face, yelling at me over and over and over.”
It was indeed a home invasion, but the people who were pouring in were Wisconsin law-enforcement officers. Armed, uniformed police swarmed into the house. Plainclothes investigators cornered her and her newly awakened family. Soon, state officials were seizing the family’s personal property, including each person’s computer and smartphone, filled with the most intimate family information.
Why were the police at Anne’s home? She had no answers. The police were treating them the way they’d seen police treat drug dealers on television. In fact, TV or movies were their only points of reference, because they weren’t criminals. They were law-abiding. They didn’t buy or sell drugs. They weren’t violent. They weren’t a danger to anyone. Yet there were cops — surrounding their house on the outside, swarming the house on the inside. They even taunted the family as if they were mere “perps.”
As if the home invasion, the appropriation of private property, and the verbal abuse weren’t enough, next came ominous warnings. Don’t call your lawyer. Don’t tell anyone about this raid. Not even your mother, your father, or your closest friends.
The entire neighborhood could see the police around their house, but they had to remain silent. This was not the “right to remain silent” as uttered by every cop on every legal drama on television — the right against self-incrimination. They couldn’t mount a public defense if they wanted — or even offer an explanation to family and friends.
Yet no one in this family was a “perp.” Instead … they were American citizens guilty of nothing more than exercising their First Amendment rights to support Act 10 and other conservative causes in Wisconsin. Sitting there shocked and terrified, this citizen — who is still too intimidated to speak on the record — kept thinking, “Is this America?”
This morning, the Wisconsin Supreme Court answered that question with a resounding “no.” From the opinion:
Our lengthy discussion of these three cases can be distilled into a few simple, but important, points.
It is utterly clear that the special prosecutor has employed theories of law that do not exist in order to investigate citizens who were wholly innocent of any wrongdoing. In other words, the special prosecutor was the instigator of a “perfect storm” of wrongs that was visited upon the innocent Unnamed Movants and those who dared to associate with them.
It is fortunate, indeed, for every other citizen of this great State who is interested in the protection of fundamental liberties that the special prosecutor chose as his targets innocent citizens who had both the will and the means to fight the unlimited resources of an unjust prosecution. Further, these brave individuals played a crucial role in presenting this court with an opportunity to re-endorse its commitment to upholding the fundamental right of each and every citizen to engage in lawful political activity and to do so free from the fear of the tyrannical retribution of arbitrary or capricious governmental prosecution.
Further:
To be clear, this conclusion ends the John Doe investigation because the special prosecutor’s legal theory is unsupported in either reason or law. Consequently, the investigation is closed. Consistent with our decision and the order entered by Reserve Judge Peterson, we order that the special prosecutor and the district attorneys involved in this investigation must cease all activities related to the investigation, return all property seized in the investigation from any individual or organization, and permanently destroy all copies of information and other materials obtained through the investigation. All Unnamed Movants are relieved of any duty to cooperate further with the investigation.
Heartening, if not ultimately satisfying. The process, after all, is really the punishment here, and there’s no real remedy available for what a lot of innocent Wisconsinites had to go through as a result of this witch hunt. You can count me sated when everyone involved in these prosecutions is out of a job.
For now though, this will do quite nicely.
Published in Law
I had no clue who Ed Jagels is or why it is relevant to this discussion. But if he abused the trust of his office to the extent that these “servants of the people” have I would support the severest punishments he could get.
When our government officials abuse their trust the damage is much more severe than just to the immediate victims and targets. They undermine the whole system, the trust of the citizenry. To a degree they kill the country. Because they give valid justification to the talk of secession and civil unrest.
At one time the people of our country would fight for their freedoms. Our representatives would even fight and duel to protect themselves and their electorate. Those days are past. Now the citizens just lay down and take the kicking they have been allotted and the GOP surrenders before the fight even starts.
Many thanks to the Ricocheteers providing links to the original opinions.
Points off for Troy for not doing so.
Detention for Troy for linking to the fershlugginer NYT. Shame!
Except that’s exactly what didn’t happen in Wisconsin. Some people — enough people — pushed back. The Court did what it was supposed to, and the responsible parties may still face personal consequences. The Republicans have only been waiting for this ruling and have been preparing to take on the trifecta of bad laws that gave an opening for this kind of abuse.
It took far, far too long to work its way through the system. The process is the punishment. But the system worked — and it will be much, much harder for anyone to do it ever again.
So why haven’t Walker and the GOP controlled House and Senate in the Legislature already stricken that vile law from the books ?
I love how she keeps saying “absolutist” like it’s a bad thing.
She’s SHOCKED that some people think “Congress shall make no law…” actually means “Congress shall make no law….”
I remember reading Speaker Vos saying somewhere they wanted the constitutional question answered — they didn’t want the court to throw it out as irrelevant because the law had changed. I don’t know how the court would have handled that situation, but if that was a concern waiting is reasonable: it’s important to establish that this investigation was illegal and unconstitutional even under the law as it stands now.
And yes, there’s politics, though I think the political concern is reasonable because it also affects public confidence in government. It looks very bad to change the law that is being used to investigate you while the investigation is still going on. They knew the Court would rule this way, and it puts them on solid ground: let it be established that this was an illegitimate abuse of the law and that parts of the law are unconstitutional anyway, and then proceed to fix the problem.
They’re ready to go — there are already bills in the legislature.
I’ve been seeing that use of the term quite a bit lately. Be prepared to deal with it.
Why do you think so? Democrats usually use defeat in the courts or at the polls to double down on their behavior.
Or do you mean only in Wisconsin, where there might be legislative changes?
I meant in Wisconsin, though I’m not aware of the John Doe law existing in that form anywhere else. I’m not completely familiar with the legal ins and outs, but that law is what let him do it — he could get one judge in secret to approve a whole raft of warrants and could impose gag orders for no reason whatsoever, and he could do that legally.
I’m not sure to what extent this could have happened elsewhere. There’s that phony indictment against Rick Perry, for instance, but he’s completely free to give his side of the story. No early-morning raids and gag orders on his political allies. This “lawfare” is dangerous anywhere, but Wisconsin had the perfect set-up: murky campaign finance laws, the John Doe law, the corrupt Governmental Accountability Board which oversees elections, and a conservative governor pitted against completely ruthless opponents from a county that is deep blue enough to probably protect against political consequences.
That is helpful. Thanks.
We all know by now that “it ain’t over til Democrats say it’s over.”
Until they start feeling the consequences of their actions — crippling fines and lengthy prison sentences should help — they will continue to try this sort of thing.
And watch how the press reports on this, particularly in Madison and Milwaukee. So far, every time a Judge has tried to shut this down, it’s been an excuse for the press to pretend that something’s being covered up.
Oh, yes. Can we just disband the Orwellian-named “Government Accountability Board” already. They already proved thoroughly corrupt during the recall elections. Why do they still exist?
Couldn’t agree more. To be given the powers to fight crime requires placing an awesome responsibility on those involved. I have the highest respect for the majority of them who take their responsibility seriously, and I cut a good deal of slack for honest mistakes.
To deliberately use powers given under public trust to target innocents for personal reasons, however, cuts straight to the heart of a free society. This violation of public trust and attack on the very concept of civilization needs to carry the highest possible penalties.
Yes, charges of cover-up in defense of a gag order. Only in Wisconsin.