The Wisconsin Judicial Commission filed a formal ethics complaint against state Supreme Court Justice David Prosser Friday for allegedly putting his hands around state Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley’s neck last June.
According to the complaint, the incident last June occurred in Bradley’s chambers, where six of the seven current Supreme Court justices were in a “heated” discussion about a current case. The discussion escalated to a point where Bradley confronted Prosser and, according to Bradley, Prosser “put his hands around [her] neck, holding [her] neck as if he were going to choke [her].”
Prosser said he only briefly made contact with Bradley’s neck during the argument.
Prosser is accused of three judicial ethics violations. The violations refer to Prosser’s alleged failure to maintain “the integrity of the judiciary.”
The complaint recommends a panel of three appeals court judges decide the case. The panel’s decision would then be reviewed by the state Supreme Court because the high court is the only entity capable of making a binding ruling against Prosser.
Since six of the seven justices were present during the altercation, they could decide to drop the case and take no action on the grounds they could not be impartial in their ruling.
Prosser questioned the commission’s complaint, suggesting it was filed for political reasons. He released a statement Friday calling it “partisan” and “untrue”.
“The Judicial Commission is trying to accomplish through this prosecution what some of its members failed to achieve at the ballot box,” Prosser said in the statement.
