CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – From out of the political weeds comes Russ Feingold, the defeated senate candidate who hasn’t been in politics since 2016. He’s written an article for Salon, saying how critical the Wisconsin State Supreme Court race is. The primary, which will narrow four candidates – two liberals and two conservates – down to two is today.
This is a critical race for those who are hellbent on restoring the right for women to kill their babies. Feingold makes the tired and incorrect argument that Wisconsin’s abortion ban is somehow outdated. The oldness of a law does not invalidate it. Wisconsin’s homicide law dates back to 1848. Is it old and outdated? When Feingold goes to synagogue, he gives thanks for the Ten Commandments – laws for personal conduct – that date back to 750 BC. Surely they are out of date.
The cure for laws that no longer suit the citizenry is for the legislature to change them. Indeed Republicans in the upcoming session are considering amending the 1849 law to include exceptions for rape and incest. It is Governor Evers who claims he’ll veto it, preferring an all-or-nothing strategy through the courts. Also unanswered by Feingold – why didn’t the legislature replace the 1949 law when Jim Doyle was Governor? They controlled both houses of the legislature for two years and took no action.
What Russ Feingold envisions is a court that operates as a super-legislature, giving ‘thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down’ to laws that have been passed by state lawmakers and signed by our governors. Act 10? Legally enacted. Confirmed through several unsuccessful federal lawsuits. Voter ID? Passed and signed, and upheld by the federal judiciary. Redistricting maps? Our current state supreme court ruled, correctly, that all our state constitution requires is that districts have the same number of voters. The rest is left up to our legislature. Even if the court accepted Governor Evers maps, drawn in secret, only two districts would have shifted from majority Republican to majority Democrat. The crowd that keeps crying ‘gerrymander’ can’t come to grips with liberals being clustered in two large cities: Milwaukee and Madison. They can’t overcome geography.
What Russ Feingold advocates is a state Supreme Court that strikes down laws that liberals don’t like. That’s ironic for someone who served in the Senate, where laws are written and voted on.
Chris Conley
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