Walker's Kangaroo Justice Jumped The Gun
October 13, 2015

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As I reported, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice N. Patrick Crooks passed away in chambers in September, on the same day that Scott Walker's presidential bid was pronounced DOA. Walker gave a deadline of October 2 for applicants to ask to be appointed, One week later, made a political appointment of his crony and fellow right wing extremist, Rebecca Bradley.

This may come as a shock to the gentle reader, but it looks like the appointment just might have been rigged.

It turns out that Bradley was calling herself Justice Bradley even before she announced that she was an applicant, much less had actually been appointed or sworn in:

Rebecca Bradley, whose first day as a justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court was Monday, registered a website domain name identifying her as a justice even before applications were due for the interim position she was appointed to.

Bradley was widely — and accurately — seen as the favorite to be appointed by Gov. Scott Walker to fill out the final nine months of Justice Pat Crooks' term; Crooks died last month. Walker had twice selected Bradley for judicial openings previously and her candidacy for a full 10-year high court term had the conservatives' backing.

Her nine-month appointment gives her the advantage of incumbency as she runs for a full 10-year term on the court in the April 5 election. She faces 4th District Appeals Court Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg and Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Joe Donald — neither of whom applied for the Supreme Court appointment.

Bradley campaign spokeswoman Madison Wiberg said the website domain name of "justicerebeccabradley.com" was reserved a day before the Oct. 2 application deadline by a vendor "in anticipation of the application process."

Adding to the shenanigans is the fact on Friday, when Walker announced the appointment, he said that they were still working out when Bradley would be formally sworn in. Apparently, they were not expecting the backlash they had gotten, since she was sworn in in a quick, private ceremony Monday morning. One would think that how this appointment was made to bolster her chances in the election next year, she would have wanted all of the pomp and circumstance.

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