Right Wing Wisconsin Supreme Court Judge David Prosser Assaults Female Justice
Posted: June 25, 2011 Filed under: just because 18 Comments
Justice David Prosser
Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser allegedly grabbed fellow Justice Ann Walsh Bradley around the neck in an argument in her chambers last week, according to at least three knowledgeable sources.
Details of the incident, investigated jointly by Wisconsin Public Radio and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, remain sketchy. The sources spoke on the condition that they not be named, citing a need to preserve professional relationships.
They say an argument that occurred before the court’s release of a decision upholding a bill to curtail the collective bargaining rights of public employees culminated in a physical altercation in the presence of other justices. Bradley purportedly asked Prosser to leave her office, whereupon Prosser grabbed Bradley by the neck with both hands.
Justice Ann Walsh Bradley
If this is true, Prosser should be arrested and prosecuted.
If these allegations prove true, Prosser is guilty of a very serious crime. Under Wisconsin law, “[w]hoever intentionally causes bodily harm or threatens to cause bodily harm to the person or family member of any judge…is guilty of a Class H felony,” except with certain exceptions that don’t apply here.
Sadly, this is not the first time Prosser stands accused of a sexist attack on one of his fellow justices — although it appears to be the first allegation where he actually laid hands on one of his colleagues. Last year, during an argument with Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, Prosser called her a “bitch” and threatened to “destroy” her.
What a guy. BTW, Prosser is a close ally of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. According to John Nichols at The Nation,
Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, who mentored controversial Governor Scott Walker when both served as Republican legislators, has positioned himself as the primary defender of Walker’s radical anti-labor and anti-local democracy agenda on the court.
And it appears that the justice, whose unstable behavior and violent language has been highlighted in media reports, is willing to go to any length to protect Walker from legal accountability.
Nichols says that Justice Bradley is “widely seen as one of the court’s most congenial member. This isn’t the first time Prosser has lost it and behaved abusively toward a female colleague.
The state’s largest newspaper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, reported in March that: “As the deeply divided state Supreme Court wrestled over whether to force one member off criminal cases last year, Justice David Prosser exploded at Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson behind closed doors, calling her a ‘bitch’ and threatening to ‘destroy’ her.”
Justice Prosser acknowledged to the newspaper the basic description of the incident but corrected one detail, saying: “In the context of this, I said, ‘You are a total bitch.’”
At the time of the previous incident, Justice Bradley wrote Justice Prosser, urging him to “end these abusive temper tantrums.”
I seems as if Prosser just plain doesn’t like women, and didn’t care for being chastised by Bradley. But nothing happened after that incident. Will anything be done this time?
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He obviously has issues with women. He should be put in jail for the assault.
I guess if you’re pals with the Governor, you can get away with choking women.
At the risk of sounding probably overly cynical … I have met SO many men in this profession who absolutely hate women that it is not at all surprising to me that such a violent misogynist is sitting on a state high court. And I am guessing that he didn’t just turn into that kind of a guy in the last year or two.
I also really loved that J. Prosser seems to think that CLARIFYING his “point” about J. Abrahamson would somehow make him look BETTER. Talk about living in a bubble!
But I’m pretty cynical about our courts in general. [OT] A friend of mine here just lost custody of her children to her abusive ex-husband, who apparently has been encouraging them to call her a “bitch” and a “witch” and tell her she is “spending too much time” with men. (They are really small kids.) Yesterday, when she went to pick the kids up for their summer visit, he was nowhere to be found and nobody knows where he and the kids are and when they might be back. Talk about terrifying. Will the police do anything? No, they will not. I do not expect that the court will do anything on Monday, either. [end OT]
That’s horrible!
It is pretty appalling. You couldn’t PAY me to put myself at the mercy of the family court.
If it was her on the run a 3 state amber alert would have be set off . She’s suppose to be grateful he didn’t shoot her before leaving I guess…just awful
That is terrible, but typical. When I was a family law paralegal up in Connecticut, stories like this was very common. And becoming cynical about it all is what usually happens…I think it becomes a defensive reaction after seeing some horrible situations.
I suppose it would be inappropriate to say that I’d like to see the female justices take the male justice into a backroom and only the female justices come out?
Snark/residual primary irritation/sick of double-triple standards.
That guy needs to be disbarred.
Yea, some how those memories still linger and the double-triple standards continue.
Man defends himself and accidentally puts hands around woman’s neck
http://www.billschmalfeldt.com/?p=24273
‘14,000’ votes ‘FOUND’ that some how were missing, saved David Prosser from recall? Did anyone ever verify these miracles votes, that all went for him? Some thing just doesn’t seem right….
Thanks for posting the link…enlightening.
This should be the end of him. The Republicans went to all that trouble to manufacure 14,000 votes, and now this.
They’re trying to say he was defending himself.
That reminds me of Larry Craig’s” wide stance” defence ….gets one laughing right away
I know that when I go into defend myself mood I always reach out my hands and try to choke someone! lol!!!
😯 I can’t believe, anyone is buying into David Prosser’s ‘defense’ argument.
I feel very sad for Ann Walsh Bradley, this should have not happened, Mrs Bradley is a victim of abuse, by a colleague, this is intolerable. Mr David Prosser should be removed from the bench Immediately, charged with assault, and arrested, the Government needs to send a clear message this kind of behavior will not be tolerated, and all who witnessed this account of abuse, should not be subject, to being afraid to say what happened because of the title. The Laws are fairly specific, and when these types of behaviors are manifested, in a work place, such as a court of law, the laws apply, even to those who hand them down.
Moot/
Can we hang this Koch sucker now? He is no better than a common criminal! The guy is obviously just as big of a narcisist as his protege Scotty Walker. Prosser’s actions and attitude of people with this personality disorder, including the fat boy governor in New Jersey and the Republican govs in Michigan and Ohio.