Wednesday, February 08, 2006

The Prosser standard

I was beginning to think I was the only one who thought it unusual that a State Supreme Court justice has admitted to committing a felony.

But then I discovered Dave Zweifel's column in the Capital Times, in which he says:
What message does Prosser's testimony send to the judicial community over which he has a piece of ultimate supervision, if he's willing to testify that everyone in leadership positions was using taxpayers' money to hire campaign workers, thus suggesting that the practice is permissible?

It's a violation of the law, period. How can Prosser effectively function as a Supreme Court justice if he takes sides in this case? Sure, he can recuse himself should the Jensen case ever reach the high court, but then he puts his fellow justices in a position of having to rebuke him.

Whatever the outcome, Prosser's action is unprecedented and terribly ill advised.
Prosser is being praised by the right wing as a profile in courage. Actually, it is sad to see Prosser, who has been well-regarded by both Republicans and Democrats, turn into a partisan hack to try to rescue his friend.

A Supreme Court justice says "everybody did it" is a defense? If that is his standard, Prosser should resign.

Footnote: Scott Walker and Mark Green claim that "everyone" wasn't doing it, just "everybody but us." Whom should we believe?

UPDATE: Mike Basford's Spin City expressed similar sentiments before this post.

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