State Lawmakers Introduce Bills to Protect Wisconsin Judges

Wednesday, January 31st, 2024 -- 2:00 PM

(Rich Kremer, Wisconsin Public Radio) In the past year, there have been 142 threats made against Wisconsin judges, according to the Wisconsin Supreme Court Marshal’s Office.

According to Rich Kremer with the Wisconsin Public Radio, now, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers is working on a package of bills to limit access to judges’ personal information. In 2022, a retired Juneau County Circuit Court Judge John Roemer was zip-tied to a chair in his home and executed.

Police said a 56-year-old man, who had been sent to prison by Roemer more than a decade earlier, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the judge’s house. In public testimony on a package of judicial security bills circulating through the state Capitol, fellow judges from Wisconsin said they don’t know how the suspect knew where Roemer lived, but several said they have faced threats of violence or death during their careers.

The bills, introduced by Rep. Ron Tusler, R-Harrison; Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, D-Milwaukee; Rep. Shelia Stubbs, D-Madison; Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green; and Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, aim to reduce those threats.

Under one of the bills, judges would be able to request that government agencies not publish personal information about them or their families. Internet “data brokers” like Google and other companies would be also be prohibited from selling that information following such a request.

Another bill would make it a crime to protest outside a judges home “with intent to interfere with, obstruct or impede” the judge’s duties. Those found guilty would face a fine of up to $10,000 and up to nine months in jail.

Lastly, documents called judicial security profiles filed with local law enforcement, which include information like the layout of a judges home, a judge’s medical history, the identity of family members in the residence, and whether there’s a security system, would no longer be publicly available via public records requests.

Some judges told lawmakers they haven’t filled out the security profiles for fear of them becoming public.

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