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Wisconsin’s Shame: State Supreme Court Vindicates Victims of ‘John Doe’ Witch Hunt
National Review Online ^ | 7/16/2015 | David French

Posted on 07/16/2015 12:20:45 PM PDT by mojito

Finds prosecutors raided conservatives’ homes to investigate constitutionally protected free speech.

In a ruling this morning, the Wisconsin Supreme Court rendered official what observers have long known: Wisconsin Democrats did, in fact, launch a massive, multi-county “John Doe” investigation of the state’s conservatives, featuring extraordinarily broad subpoenas and coordinated “paramilitary” raids of private homes; the “crimes” that provided the investigation’s pretext were not crimes at all, but First Amendment-protected speech; and the legal theory underpinning the investigation was bunk, “unsupported in either reason or law,” as the court put it.

...On October 3, 2013, multiple Wisconsin conservatives were awakened by a persistent pounding on the door, their houses were illuminated by floodlights, and police — sometimes with guns drawn — poured into their homes. Once inside, the investigators turned the private residences of these innocent conservative citizens “upside down,” seeking an extraordinarily broad range of documents and information. These raids were supplemented by subpoenas that secured for investigators massive amounts of electronic information.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; Politics/Elections; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: johndoecase; liberalfascism; scottwalker; wisconsinshowdown
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To: mojito

Bookmark


21 posted on 07/16/2015 12:39:48 PM PDT by Fiddlstix (Warning! This Is A Subliminal Tagline! Read it at your own risk!(Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: jwalsh07
It will not be right until the DA is in jail and broke.

It will not be remedied until every official responsible or permitting this, including individual policemen, are dismissed from any further employment as law officers or government employees anywhere in the United States; and even then, it is already too late for anything to be "right" about this flouting of basic Constitutional rights to privacy.

22 posted on 07/16/2015 12:40:21 PM PDT by imardmd1 (Fiat Lux)
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To: dware

They should be charged with crimes against humanity and spend life in supermax


23 posted on 07/16/2015 12:41:01 PM PDT by Greg123456 (America is now ruled by 9 members of the Supreme Soviet)
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To: mojito

If you want evidence, as if any is needed, that the Dems would be very happy to keep political prosecutions and terror campaigns in place, just read the “Dissent” by the Dem hack on the court. Her only consideration was that she wanted her side to win and if some citizens have to be raided by the police and have all their personal possessions taken to keep the Dems in charge and her side on top, so be it. She’ll figure out a legal analysis to get there, just like any other Dem hack on any other court.


24 posted on 07/16/2015 12:45:23 PM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
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To: ozzymandus
Where are the lawsuits?

They're coming. Some may have been filed already.

25 posted on 07/16/2015 12:48:12 PM PDT by mojito (Zero, our Nero.)
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To: mojito

What time is the press conference being scheduled for Attorney General Loretta Lynch to announce the investigation into whether or not there were civil rights violations?


26 posted on 07/16/2015 12:49:28 PM PDT by Republican Wildcat
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To: Opinionated Blowhard
...just like any other Dem hack on any other court.

Or John Roberts or Anthony Kennedy.

27 posted on 07/16/2015 12:51:24 PM PDT by mojito (Zero, our Nero.)
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To: mojito; All

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2015/07/16/key-excerpts-from-wisconsin-court-ruling-ending-scott-walker-probe/

Majority opinion:

• The justice says the special prosecutor, Francis Schmitz, rooted his probe in “vague, overbroad” sections of the state’s campaign finance law, giving him too much discretion:

The lack of clarity in Ch. 11, which the special prosecutor relies upon, leads us to the unsettling conclusion that it is left to government bureaucrats and/or individual prosecutors to determine how much coordination between campaign committees and independent groups is “too much” coordination. In essence, under his theory, every candidate, in every campaign in which an issue advocacy group participates, would get their own John Doe proceeding and their own special prosecutor to determine the extent of any coordination. This is not, and cannot, be the law in a democracy…

The special prosecutor has disregarded the vital principle that in our nation and our state political speech is a fundamental right and is afforded the highest level of protection. The special prosecutor’s theories…would assure that such political speech will be investigated with paramilitary-style home invasions conducted in the pre-dawn hours and then prosecuted and punished. In short, the special prosecutor completely ignores the command that, when seeking to regulate issue advocacy groups, such regulation must be done with “narrow specificity.”

• The justice defends the decision by a state judge presiding over the investigation to quash subpoenas in the case:

John Doe judges are given enormous discretion to control the scope and conduct of a John Doe proceeding. With this important point in mind, we now turn to the specific issue before us: whether Reserve Judge Peterson violated a plain legal duty when he quashed the subpoenas and search warrants and ordered the return of all seized property. He did not.

• The opinion concludes with another reprimand of the special prosecutor:

Our lengthy discussion of these three cases can be distilled into a few simple, but important, points. It is utterly clear that the special prosecutor has employed theories of law that do not exist in order to investigate citizens who were wholly innocent of any wrongdoing. In other words, the special prosecutor was the instigator of a “perfect storm” of wrongs that was visited upon the innocent Unnamed Movants and those who dared to associate with them.


28 posted on 07/16/2015 1:03:03 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: vladimir998; afraidfortherepublic

Thanks for the PING!

Hadn’t seen the article, but heard it on the radio this morning and did a:

**Happy Dance** **Happy Dance** **Happy Dance**

followed by a lot of hootin’ and hollerin’ and a little celebratory gunfire, LOL!

AFTR: Wisconsin made National Review! :)


29 posted on 07/16/2015 1:07:05 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set...)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Thanks. Excellent post.


30 posted on 07/16/2015 1:12:18 PM PDT by mojito (Zero, our Nero.)
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To: All

Here’s the Money Quote!

“In other words, the special prosecutor was the instigator of a ‘perfect storm’ of wrongs that was visited upon the innocent Unnamed Movants and those who dared to associate with them.”

Oh, these lawsuits are gonna be suh-WEET! DA (’Rat, WI) John Chisholm is hiding under his bed, wetting himself.

“The politicized knock on the door in the night isn’t right for Wisconsin, or anywhere else in the United States of America.”

http://nypost.com/2015/04/20/hunting-witches-in-wisconsin/


31 posted on 07/16/2015 1:12:39 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set...)
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To: mojito

Time for a nice big fat lawsuit


32 posted on 07/16/2015 1:19:28 PM PDT by rocketmag
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

My guess is that he knows what’s coming and will commit suicide, leaving the targeted conservatives with no justice.


33 posted on 07/16/2015 1:37:00 PM PDT by ConservativeMind ("Humane" = "Don't pen up pets or eat meat, but allow infanticide, abortion, and euthanasia.")
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To: jwalsh07

And everyone even remotely associated with him. They should all be Nifonged.


34 posted on 07/16/2015 2:30:50 PM PDT by LS ("Castles Made of Sand, Fall in the Sea . . . Eventually" (Hendrix))
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To: mojito

The Dems in WI should be lined up and shot.


35 posted on 07/16/2015 2:34:01 PM PDT by Fledermaus (To hell with the Republican Party. I'm done with them. If I want a Lib Dem I'd vote for one.)
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To: mojito

Chislom will suffer massive civil judgements, but not one single criminal charge will be levied against him. He and his minions should have to do some hard time for their crimes against law-abiding citizens.

He should also be forced to resign to prevent him from having any opportunity to use any public resources (not even the benefit of a taxpayer funded cell phone) whatsoever to defend himself against the civil suits


36 posted on 07/16/2015 2:44:49 PM PDT by Saltmeat
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To: Greg123456

Best be careful, the JBT support group will take umbrage with you calling for their heroes arrest and conviction. Only JBT’s can act as judge, jury and executioners at their unquestionable discretion.


37 posted on 07/16/2015 2:46:45 PM PDT by shotgun
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To: mojito

But, but, but...

His wife was crying because Gov Walker was anti-union!!!!!

She needs to be sued and charged as the instigator.


38 posted on 07/16/2015 3:28:07 PM PDT by ChicagahAl (Today's Democrats are much more Fascist than Communist; but Sen Joe McCarthy was still right.)
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To: WayneS

Supreme Court Vindicates Victims of ‘John Doe’ Witch Hunt, WayneS wrote:
“Actually, I think it would have been “Wisconsin’s Shame” if the court had sided with the prosecutors”.

I agree. What !? Was my reaction when I saw that head caption.


39 posted on 07/16/2015 3:52:52 PM PDT by mosesdapoet (Some of my best rebuttals are in FR's along with meaningless venting no one reads.)
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To: mojito; onyx; Hunton Peck; Diana in Wisconsin; P from Sheb; Shady; DonkeyBonker; Wisconsinlady; ...

National Review expounds on the Wisconsin John Doe raids which were thrown out of court by the Wis. Supreme Court yesterday. Sorry for the late ping.

FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.


40 posted on 07/17/2015 12:17:44 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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