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PRESS RELEASES
June 06, 2011
Wisconsin Club for Growth ---- Judge Sumi should be investitaged
For Immediate Release:
June 6, 2011
Contact: Deb Jordahl (877) 707-5571
Sun Prairie, WI ---The Wisconsin Club for Growth has asked the Wisconsin Judicial Commission to investigate possible misconduct on the part of Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi. Sumi is at the center of a controversial ruling blocking publication of new law to reform the collective bargaining privileges of government employees in Wisconsin.
The complaint says Sumi acted inappropriately and demonstrated bias against the State when she filed a brief with the Wisconsin Supreme Court last month.
• On May 18, 2011, Judge Sumi, through her attorneys, filed a brief in the supervisory writ proceeding before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, State v. Circuit Court of Dane County, et al, Case No. 2011AP765.
• Judge Sumi’s brief to the Supreme Court asserted definitive legal positions on issues that had not yet adjudicated in the circuit court action in which she was presiding. Indeed, Judge Sumi’s took a position on at least one of the legal matters which the Attorney General asked the Supreme Court to address in its writ identified in paragraph 9.
• As a sitting judge, Judge Sumi is bound by SCR 60.04(4), which provides:
A judge shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all of the judge's activities.
(1) A judge shall respect and comply with the law and shall act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice asked Judge Sumi to recuse herself from the case on May 25, 2011 but Sumi refused and instead issued a ruling against the State the following day.
