Letter: Why judicial independence is so important

To the Editor-

I’m Stephen Sawyer and I’m asking for your vote for circuit court judge.

I admit I am not a politician. I’m just a person who believes judicial independence is important. I believe you, your family, and your loved ones have the right to be heard in court without regard to the judge’s political leanings.

Our founding fathers and the Supreme Court of Wisconsin stated that judicial independence was and is vitally important.

Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, with the assistance of John Jay, wrote a series of articles for the purpose of persuading the states to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Alexander Hamilton wrote, “The complete independence of the courts of justice is peculiarly essential in a limited Constitution.”

The Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules on Judicial Conduct starts with a Preamble that begins,
“Our legal system is based on the principle that an independent, fair and competent judiciary will interpret and apply the laws that govern us.”

I am concerned that a national poll conducted in October of 2021 by Grinnell College in Iowa found that 62% of Americans believe that U.S. Supreme Court decisions are based on politics instead of the law and Constitution, versus 30% who thought those decisions were based upon the law.

I agree with the 83-year-old U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer when he told an audience at Harvard Law School prior to announcing his retirement that “It is wrong to think of the court as another political institution. It is doubly wrong to think of its members as junior league politicians. If the public sees judges as ‘politicians in robes,'” he warned, “its confidence in the courts, and in the rule of law itself, can only diminish, diminishing the court’s power, including its power to act as a ‘check’ on the other branches” (language originally reported by CNN).

As I said, I am not a politician, I am simply an ordinary citizen who worries that a judge who is also a politician will often rule on cases based upon a political agenda or bias, instead of simply ruling based upon the law as written. This is particularly troubling when it is at the county circuit court level. A person appearing in my court can be assured I will hear the case on its merits and apply the law to the unique set of facts presented by each case, without fear or favor, as was intended by our state supreme court and our founding fathers.

Politicians appropriately have a role in the legislative and executive branches of our government where constituent concerns are important. However, judges should not rule-based upon concerns for popularity, political expediency, or what they think is in their own best interest, but on the Rule of Law. That is why judicial independence is so important. That is why I ask for your vote on April 5. Thank you for your consideration.

Stephen W. Sawyer
Attorney at Law
Candidate for Portage Co. Circuit Court Judge