Although he apologized for the 3,500 case backlog, former Wisconsin municipal court judge John Zodrow lost his bid for reelection this year. Adding insult to injury, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has now reprimanded him. In its opinion, the Court agreed with the Judicial Conduct Panel's conclusion that since the judge was not reelected, a reprimand was adequate discipline and was sufficient to protect the public from any further judicial misconduct of this kind by others.
Courts throughout the country are struggling with the challenge of maintaining court services in the face of diminishing public resources. Zoddrow's story reads like a primer in how not to manage a court funding crisis. Despite warnings from the administrative office of the courts about the backlog of cases, some of which were more than seven years old, he refused to address his backlog, arguing for additional clerical personnel to handle the work. And he refused to adjudicate parking ticket stipulation cases in protest, telling Wisconsin's Judicial Commission that the cases "can sit and collect dust until hell freezes over."
HT: ABA Journal
