This is almost funny:
Lawyers for the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which is run by Republicans, sent a letter this week to Circuit Judge MaryAnn Sumi (above), arguing that she should have recused herself from a case involving a collective-bargaining law.
These lawyers based their reasoning in part on a brief Sumi filed earlier this month in which she denied any bias.
HERE‘s one interesting reaction to the letter:
University of Wisconsin Law School professor Howard Schweber said the Justice Department letter was “remarkable.”
“They really do have a line in there suggesting Judge Sumi’s claim that she is not biased shows she is biased,” Schweber said.
Schweber said the state now is arguing that, because she filed a legal brief, she was making a public statement on a case pending before her.
“That makes things a little sticky,” Schweber said. “It’s not clear filing a public brief is a public statement. Second, it’s not clear that because she took a position in contesting a writ, that that indicated how she would rule.”
Sumi RULED yesterday that the process by which the measure at issue was adopted violated the state’s open meetings law.
