Quote of the Day

“The only time that Justice Patrick Crooks in his almost twenty years on the bench left the bench early that I can recall is the day he left the bench early and died later that day in his chambers.”

WI Justice Ann Walsh Bradley (fuller context from Patrick Marley, Rebecca Bradley Leaves Arguments Early to Speak to Business Group:

The WisconsinEye Public Affairs Network records all Supreme Court arguments, but its cameras focus on the speakers and in this case don’t show when the justices leave. At the end of arguments, the camera pans out to reveal that three of the seven justices have left at that point — Bradley, Gableman and Annette Ziegler.

Ziegler said by email she didn’t leave until after the last lawyer had finished speaking. She then attended the WMC event, which was held three blocks away.

Gableman said he left about 10 minutes before arguments ended. Early departures are not unusual, he said.

“My observations of the court over the last seven and a half years or so would be to say it is not uncommon at all for every member of the court to leave early if it is necessary to speak at an event or for any reason,” he said.

But Justice Ann Walsh Bradley indicated it’s not common for other justices to step away from arguments — and invoked the name of former Justice N. Patrick Crooks to make her point. Crooks died in September, and the governor appointed Rebecca Bradley to fill his spot.

“The only time that Justice Patrick Crooks in his almost twenty years on the bench left the bench early that I can recall is the day he left the bench early and died later that day in his chambers,” Ann Walsh Bradley said.

The two Bradleys are not related.

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