WI Supreme Court justices should follow open records laws

Wisconsin has a long history of openness in government. Essentially, government records are presumed to be a matter of public record, except under very select circumstances. The justices on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court should know that better than anyone. But it seems even our Supreme Court justices like looking for loopholes in the law. Three of the justices, Shirley Abrahamson, Michael Gableman and Rebecca Bradley have yet to turn over any of the documents they have been asked to provide. In fact, two of them haven’t even bothered to respond to the formal requests for the records. That is despite the fact that the law requires documents be provided under the state’s open records laws “ as soon as practicable and without delay.” The justification for refusing to even respond to the formal request is that it has never been determined, legally, whether the state open records laws apply to the Supreme Court. Of course, the law applies to them. Even if there is some legal question about that, the justices should presume that it does, as the law suggests. So either the justices don’t know the law applies to them, which is sad, or they are being arrogant, and think they are above the law. Either way, their response, or lack thereof, is disappointing.