Court Denies Rehearing En Banc In Case Upholding Prohibition On Political Endorsements By Judges
SIEFERT v. ALEXANDER (August 31, 2010)
On June 14, 2010, a panel of the Court issued its opinion in Siefert v. Alexander (opinion here – intheiropinion here). In a 2-1 decision, the majority applied a balancing test in upholding a Wisconsin prohibition on judges or judicial candidates from publicly endorsing other partisan candidates. Siefert petitioned for Rehearing En Banc.
In their opinion, the Court denied the petition.
Judge Rovner (joined by Judges Wood, Williams, and Hamilton) dissented from the denial. Judge Rovner stated that the Supreme Court and every other circuit court that has addressed the First Amendment rights of judges have done so by applying a strict scrutiny test. She disagreed with the application of the balancing test by the majority and favored rehearing.
Michael Rigney practices in the law offices of GVC Ltd. in Chicago. In this blog, he reports on select