On February 13, 2023, the Wisconsin Examiner reported that a judicial oversight panel dismissed a complaint filed in 2021 against Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Jill Karofsky for the comments she made during the oral arguments in former President Donald Trump’s lawsuit attempting to overturn the election results.

According to abcNews, Justice Jill Karofsky released documents that show that a retired attorney in Maryland, Fletcher Thompson, filed one complaint against her two years ago. This is for Justice Karofsky’s comments to Trump’s lawyer, Jim Troupis about their attempt to change the election results. She said, “so that your king can stay in power.” This was after the incident where Trump filed a lawsuit in the state of Wisconsin in December 2020 after a recount confirmed that the Democrat Joe Biden had won the state by about 21,000 votes. The filing was one of the several lawsuits that former president Trump filed across multiple states in an unsuccessful attempt to overturn the election results and remain in office.

Following the comments made by Justice Karofsky, Thompson filed a complaint against the former in January 2021 accusing her of being hostile toward Trump’s attorney. It was noted that during oral arguments, Karofsky told Troupis that the lawsuit “smacks of racism” because it sought to toss out absentee ballots in Wisconsin’s two most diverse counties.

Attorney Thompson accused Karofsky of being discourteous and inappropriately launching personal attacks. He accused her remarks revealed a political and racial bias.

The nine-member commission dismissed the complaint against Karofsky but cautioned her that she should be more careful about appearing to have chosen a side in legal disputes.

The commission stated,

“Regardless of the nature of the case being addressed by the court, a judicial official should take special care and remain mindful of their role in proceedings as a neutral and detached magistrate, as opposed to an advocate, and avoid sarcasm when making statements from the bench, given their obligations under (the state code of judicial conduct).”

Justice Karofsky stated that the complaint was an attempt to silence people who stand up for democracy. She added that she’s received physical threats and anti-semitic harassment since making the decision in the Trump case.

 

Source: Wisconsin Examiner