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Wisconsin Supreme Court won`t restart John Doe probe into Gov. Walker`s recall campaign
Wisconsin Supreme Court won`t restart John Doe probe into Gov. Walker`s recall campaign
MADISON — The Wisconsin Supreme Court refused Wednesday to allow an investigation into Gov. Scott Walker's recall campaign to begin anew, even as the court decided to preserve evidence in the case.
Wisconsin Supreme Court
The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board and Milwaukee prosecutors launched the investigation in 2012, to look into whether the Republican governor's campaign illegally coordinated with outside conservative groups on issue ads.
The Supreme Court halted the investigation in July, ruling such coordination was legal. Francis Schmitz, the special prosecutor who led the investigation, asked the high court in August to rethink its decision.
"We conclude that Attorney Schmitz's motion does not present any grounds to reconsider our prior decision," the majority justice wrote in the 4-1 decision.
Schmitz plans to appeal if he has the necessary resources, multiple news outlets reported. Randall Crocker, a Milwaukee attorney who had been representing Schmitz in the case, didn't respond to multiple requests about Schmitz's intentions.
Wisconsin Supreme Court decision on Gov. Walker John Doe investigation
No charges were ever filed in the case, known as John Doe II because of a separate, previous investigation into Walker's operation when he was Milwaukee County executive. Six people were convicted of a variety of crimes as a result of the earlier Doe probe.
Governor Scott Walker
Walker on Wednesday said the state Supreme Court's decision validated his belief that no charges would be filed in the second investigation.
"It speaks for itself. We said all along, for the last several years, that it would end this way," Walker told reporters. "We`re glad for the people of this state."
John Doe investigations are similar to grand jury proceedings, in that information is kept secret and prosecutors can compel witnesses to testify as they consider whether to pursue criminal charges.
Schmitz's request to the court, like all proceedings in the Doe investigation, remain under seal. Yet the court in its Wednesday decision said that Schmitz had wanted to continue investigating a different kind of coordination between Walker and the outside groups.
The four justices in the majority ruled that Schmitz had "forfeited" his right to investigate that coordination because he'd only raised the issue on appeal.
In its decision, the court said Schmitz's appointment as special prosecutor was invalid. Yet it said the "prosecution team" could appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, causing confusion about whether Schmitz or the five county district attorneys who had initially appointed him would have to bring the appeal.
"What a mess this court has wrought!" the long dissenting justice, Shirley Abrahamson, wrote in her dissenting opinion.
The court said Schmitz must return evidence to the John Doe targets, but allowed him to make copies of the evidence that will be kept under seal at the state Supreme Court.
Justice Shirley Abrahamson on Wisconsin Supreme Court decision on Gov. Walker John Doe investigation
Conservative attorneys hailed the decision as the end to a case that had violated the free speech rights of the John Doe targets.
"The likelihood that the John Doe investigation will be resurrected is almost zero," said Rick Esenberg, general counsel with the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty.
Milwaukee attorney Jeremy Levinson, who has represented Democrats in election disputes, said the ruling will create new challenges for prosecutors who are pursuing criminal cases in the future.
"I have to hand it to these lawyers (for the John Doe targets). They got aggressive in a way that`s very unusual for targets of a criminal investigation, and they won," Levinson said. "They were able to bring state law enforcement and regulatory forces to a complete halt."
Lawmakers and Gov. Walker in October banned prosecutors from using Wisconsin's John Doe laws to investigate political and ethics violations in the future.
Instead, prosecutors must use the grand jury system, which supporters of the changes said will create a more open process.
"Having these investigations done in secret, where the people being targeted can’t tell anybody what’s happening to them, raises the risk of abuse," Esenberg said.
Yet Levinson argued that the state Supreme Court went beyond the John Doe case in its earlier ruling this summer. Its decision that campaigns and outside groups could legally coordinate on issue advocacy will have long-lasting, negative effects, he said.
"This is a case in which the Supreme Court has abruptly changed many aspects of well-settled law ," he said.
Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel issued this statement:
CLICK HERE to view the Supreme Court ruling.