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Constitutionality

By: Derek Hawkins//July 5, 2017//

Constitutionality

By: Derek Hawkins//July 5, 2017//

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WI Supreme Court

Case Name: The Honorable William M. Gabler, Sr., v. Crime Victims Rights Board

Case No.: 2017 WI 67

Focus: Constitutionality

In creating an executive branch entity with authority to pass judgment and impose discipline on a judge’s exercise of core judicial powers, the Wisconsin legislature violates the Wisconsin Constitution’s structural separation of powers and invades a domain recognized for over two hundred years as the exclusive province of the judiciary. Neither the executive branch nor the legislature may reprimand or otherwise discipline a Wisconsin judge. The Wisconsin Constitution reserves such disciplinary powers for the supreme court alone. Nor may the legislature empower the executive branch to threaten any judicial officer with repercussions for exercising constitutional power vested exclusively in the judiciary. Encroachment on judicial power degrades the judicial independence that serves as a bulwark protecting the people against tyranny. By statutorily authorizing executive action against the judiciary, the legislature unconstitutionally conferred power on an executive board to impair, improperly influence, and regulate the judiciary’s exercise of its constitutional duties. Specifically, the legislature transgressed the constitutional boundaries of its powers by authorizing the Crime Victims Rights Board (the “Board”) to investigate and adjudicate complaints against judges, issue reprimands against judges, and seek equitable relief and forfeitures through civil actions against judges. We therefore affirm the decision of the circuit court and hold that Wis. Stat. §§ 950.09(2)(a), (2)(c)-(d) and (3) and 950.11 (2015-16) are unconstitutional with respect to judges; accordingly, the Board’s actions against Judge William M. Gabler are void.

Affirmed

Dissent: Abrahamson

Concurring: Abrahamson

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

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