By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//January 7, 2011//
Milwaukee (AP) – President Barack Obama has again nominated former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis B. Butler Jr. for a federal judgeship.
The White House said Wednesday that for the third time, Obama has sent Butler’s name to the U.S. Senate as his nominee to become a federal district judge for western Wisconsin.
For two years in a row, the Senate’s Republican minority has blocked a floor vote on Butler and some other Obama judicial nominees.
Then-Gov. Jim Doyle appointed Butler to the state Supreme Court in 2004, but he was defeated by Michael Gableman in a statewide election.
The Journal Sentinel reports some, such as U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, say a judge who lost a statewide election shouldn’t be compensated with a lifetime appointment.
Butler now teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.