Editorial: Justices should stay out of John Doe case

There appears to be a question about whether four state Supreme Court justices should take part in a ruling on the John Doe investigation involving special-interest groups, should a case reach the court.

There should be no question about it. There’s no way the four justices should be involved with any decision on this case. They’re already involved with the special-interest groups.

The three groups that have been trying to get the investigation halted — and have succeeded so far — had also spent millions on behalf of the campaigns of the four justices in the last decade.

The justices — Michael Gableman, David Prosser, Pat Roggensack and Annette Ziegler — should recuse themselves from any John Doe-related case the Supreme Court gets.

Wisconsin Club for Growth, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce and Citizens for a Strong America spent a total of more than $8 million to help the judges get elected — Ziegler in 2007, Gableman in 2008, Prosser in 2011 and Roggensack in 2013.

And if that’s not enough, WMC wrote the Supreme Court’s recusal rules, which passed 4-3 in 2011. The rules say that justices can’t be forced to recuse themselves solely because of campaign donations or money spent on behalf of their campaigns. Guess which four justices voted for them?

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Editorial: Justices should stay out of John Doe case