Ed. Note: This is a guest post by Madison, Wisconsin, criminal defense lawyer Christopher Van Wagner.

There’s blood in political and judicial waters in Wisconsin today. Some of the blood has been shed by a sitting elected judge, targeted by DOJ and yesterday found guilty by a federal jury of felony crime. But this is not a horror story. This is not about whether a certain judge is guilty or not. This is about whether she can be removed from the bench, now, later, ever.

The simple answer is she can be. But there is no simple way to remove her. The full answer requires discussion of the four separate ways to boot a sitting elected Wisconsin judge off the bench.

Here are the four ways to do so.

1.      The Supreme Court may do so on the recommendation of the Judicial Commission.

This requires a Judicial complaint, an investigation, a proposed sanction against the sitting judge, and either an agreement to be removed or a battle before the Wisconsin Supreme Court itself. The process by which that might occur is roughly light years, if the state judicial commission’s pace is any guide. Oh, and there hasn’t been a conviction of a Milwaukee judge in federal court yet this week. That comes only after sentencing which is currently set for April but might be delayed past that. So good luck if you chose door number one.

2.      The Assembly may impeach a judge, after which the Senate could remove that impeached judge in a Senate impeachment trial.

This requires politicians to do something. Do you know what season it is? Good luck with that, too, ya dere hey dere. You’re more likely to see a big red sleigh and reindeer than a completed impeachment during the remainder of any sitting judge’s term.

3.      The voters may recall a judge by petition and recall campaign.

Getting voters to do something is even harder than getting politicians to do something. Petitions require people to go door to door. And write their names. Facebook petitions aren’t valid. Oh, and the wind chill today is a seasonal -142 F. or thereabouts. Plus, the Packers haven’t (yet) been eliminated. So, once again, good luck with that.

4.      The legislature may remove a sitting elected judge (by a process called “Address”).

This is an archaic historical procedure that requires people to read things from over 100 years ago. They don’t read things from 100 minu— I mean seconds ago. They won’t read this blog. So in case you didn’t hear, good luck with that.

So the tl;dr?

Unless and until a judge is formally removed by one of these methods, they’re entitled to full pay whether at work or at The Up North Supper Club for fish fry and polkas.*  This judge has been paid all along – and will continue to be paid until such time as she is actually formally and finally removed. Technically she’s not even been convicted yet. In other words, the blood will have to swirl on the tides for a while.

Happy Judicial Holidays!
– Chris Van Wagner,
Madison, Wisconsin

*Ed. Note: If you’ve never been to a Wisconsin Friday night fish fry, with polkas and an occasional beer, put it on your bucket list. It is glorious.