In Wisconsin Supreme Court, Fix Is in for Scott Walker

The Koch brothers have made their intentions public to buy the U.S. presidency with Scott Walker as their front-man, as Scott Walker limits his appearances before the press (Byers, The Politico), (Confessore, NYT), (Beck, Wisconsin State Journal), (Katz, New York Daily News), (Fischer, PRWatch).

What the national commentariat is missing is that this suggests that the two John Doe cases—investigating Walker's illegal direction and coordination of independent and advocacy money—before the Wisconsin Supreme Court are already decided, and four members of the Court can no longer be regarded as anything but an arm of the Republican moneyed interests who funded their campaigns (See Bottari, Walker's Dark Money Allies Orchestrate Coup of the Courts at PRWatch).

The Koch brothers wouldn't bother with Walker if they didn't know the outcome at the Court now still ostensibly deliberating.

The rightwing media is ratcheting up its campaign to recast the bipartisan John Doe II probe as a partisan abuse of power in anticipation of the Court's pro-Walker ruling (French, National Review).

So, when the four Republican justices rule for Walker, all the rightwing chorus will sing: We told you so, as though the four justices brought by GOP money were not part of the problem.

There is of course the Due Process Clause case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, 5-4 by Justice Kennedy, Caperton v. Massey (2009) (Brennen Center for Justice).

Writes Justice Kennedy: "We conclude that there is a serious risk of actual bias—based on objective and reasonable perceptions—when a person with a personal stake in a particular case had a significant and disproportionate influence in placing the judge on the case by raising funds or directing the judge's election campaign when the case was pending or imminent. The inquiry centers on the contribution's relative size in comparison to the total amount of money contributed to the campaign, the total amount spent in the election, and the apparent effect such contribution had on the outcome of the election."

Facing the litigant-purchased Wisconsin Court, the John Doe probe cases will take years to reach the High Court, and by that time, the presidential race will be over and Caperton won't present a problem for the then-former-presidential candidate, Scott Walker.