Wisconsin judges may announce political party membership
June 15, 2010
Wisconsin: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit ruled, on June 14, 2010 that Wisconsin judges may announce political party membership, but may not endorse partisan candidates or personally solicit campaign contributions. This ruling came from the appeal of Siefert v. Alexander et al. (Case No. 09-1713). In this case, Judge John Siefert of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, sought to announce his affiliation with the Democratic Party in order to endorse candidates and solicit contributions to his own campaign. These three activities were prohibited according to Wisconsin’s Code of Judicial Conduct, so Siefert decided to challenge the constitutionality of these prohibitions by suing the Wisconsin Judicial Commission. After the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin ruled that all three prohibitions were unconstitutional, the case was appealed to the 7th Circuit Court. The appeals court ruled that it is unconstitutional to prohibit judges from listing party affiliation, but that the prohibitions on endorsing partisan candidates and personally soliciting campaign contributions were constitutional. The case dealt primarily with the 1st Amendment rights of free speech. [1]
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