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Judge Mike Gableman, candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, visited Marquette Law School today for an “On the Issues” session with Mike Gousha. You can listen to the podcast here.

A brief set of thoughts. Obviously, I was inclined to support him before he entered the room. He has the support of the majority of sheriffs in this state and a lot of DAs, including my own sheriff and DA in Ozaukee County. He has the support of Wisconsin Right to Life. From his limited public statements, he has indicated he holds the judicial philosophy that I believe is appropriate. The folks he has associated with are generally people I agree with. Moreover, he is running against an incumbent justice who I believe is a liberal judicial activist.

My inclinations were confirmed during Gousha’s event today. Judge Gableman considers himself a judicial conservative in the line of Justice Jon Wilcox and Judge Diane Sykes. During the campaign, he will not shirk from commenting publicly on the reasoning employed in published opinions of the Court issued while his opponent was on the bench. He is not willing currently to sign on to any nefarious “clean campaign pledge” that would illicitly limit the public discussion of the race or seek to curtail the free speech of citizens, individually and in association with one another. He will not legislate or impose his own social views from the bench.

My only concern, and it is more practical than philosophical, is that he’ll have the time to do the necessary campaigning statewide. Judge Gableman, a former history teacher, clearly has a very idealistic notion about taking your case to the people in the course of a campaign. That’s a fine sentiment, but you need the time to do it. He’s carrying an above-full-time case load currently, he’s got several important other commitments from which he is not yielding, and he’s got to drive from Burnett to wherever. I hope he has the time to get out and do the campaigning he needs to, especially when the incumbent will likely outraise him in hard dollars.

(See also MJS’s Proof and Hearsay).

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