Wisconsin Republicans have filed a complaint about the judge who temporarily blocked a voter ID law from taking effect, arguing he couldn’t be a neutral arbitrator because he signed a petition calling for the recall of Gov. Scott Walker (R).
The complaint, filed with the Wisconsin Judicial Commission, said that Judge David Flanagan should have recused himself from the case or at least disclosed that he had signed the Walker recall petition. They pointed out that the group circulating the petition listed the voter ID law as one of the reasons to recall Walker.
“In signing this document, the judge seemingly made a public statement against the defendant and the Voter ID law in question in the case, and thus removed his ability to appear in an impartial manner and could be found by a reasonable person to be biased under the circumstances,” the complaint stated.
Flanagan’s wife circulated six copies of the petition and gathered 37 signatures, according to the complaint.
The Republican Party of Wisconsin’s Ben Sparks said in a statement that Flanagan had “made his bias clear” and asked the commission to investigate the allegations “as soon as possible.”
Flanagan did not immediately respond to TPM’s request for comment.
