MILWAUKEE, Wis. (Legal Newsline) – A Wisconsin judge has declined a request by a liberal-leaning candidate seeking to unseat a conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice in today's apparently-going-ahead primary election to block political ads she claims falsify her prosecutorial record.
On Monday, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Timothy Witkowiak declined a request for a preliminary injunction by Dane County Circuit Court judge and former prosecutor Jill Karofsky and her campaign, Jill for Justice, to stop airing of the ads. Doing so would amount to unlawful prior restraint because they have not yet been found to be inflammatory, Witkowiak ruled.
In her 14-page lawsuit filed Friday, Karofsky argued that the ads are, in fact, defamatory and that the only recourse was for a court order that the conservative groups named in the case stop airing the ads.
"And any remedy at law, such as damages, would be inadequate," the lawsuit said. "Judge Karofsky is running for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. If the any of the ads are determined to be defamatory - and they all will be - the election cannot be redone. Nor is there monetary compensation that would be adequate to compensate Plaintiffs. There simply is no adequate remedy to protect Judge Karofsky or Jill for Justice from the harm of these defamatory ads other than an injunction."
Named defendants in Karofsky's lawsuit are the conservative interest groups behind the ads: WMC Issues Mobilization Council and Republican State Leadership Committee - Judicial Fairness Initiative.
Karofsky is running for the place on Wisconsin's Supreme Court currently held by Justice Daniel Kelly, who was appointed to the seat in 2016 by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
In Wisconsin, state Supreme Court justices serve 10-year terms.
The race is officially nonpartisan but the political leaning of Karofsky and Kelly are generally known. Karaofsky has been endorsed by Democrat Presidential hopefuls Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders while Kelly has been endorsed by the nation's Republican President Donald Trump.
Whether today's primary election will happen as is scheduled today had been up in the air for days because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The entire state currently is under stay-at-home orders that closed all nonessential businesses in Wisconsin to try to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Gov. Tony Evers' executive order suspending in-person voting, which would effectively have postponed the primary election, was overturned by the state Supreme Court hours after the order was issued Monday.
In its 4-2 ruling, the state Supreme Court said the governor doesn't have the authority to suspend the election.
Among other things, Karofsky claims in her lawsuit that the ads make false claims about her past roles prosecuting and sentencing sex offenders. The alleged false claims are intended "to diminish Judge Karofsky’s reputation with the voting public" and "are not only defamatory" but also violate state law, the lawsuit said.
"Every time the defamatory ads air, they cause further irreparable harm to Judge Karofsky and Jill for Justice," the lawsuit said.