Sheriff Clarke Is Lovin' Them Activist Judges

In today's local daily paper are two different stories with one common theme. That theme is that Sheriff David Clarke is found to be breaking the law, but doesn't face any consequences for his misdeeds.

The first story tells how Milwaukee County taxpayers dodged a big bullet when the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that even though Clarke violated basic human rights by keeping new inmates in filthy and inhumane conditions, there would be no fines handed down.

The other story deals with a lawsuit filed by Deputy Michael Schuh, who claimed that Clarke was targeting him due to an opinion piece Schuh had written. The U.S. Appellate Court ruled that Clarke had indeed put Schuh on foot patrol as retaliation, but that this was not a violation of Schuh's First Amendment rights of free speech. The Court did give him a bit of a verbal rebuke though:

While siding with Clarke on the legal issues, the appeals panel took a slap at the sheriff's response to Schuh's criticism.

"In our view, Sheriff Clarke's response was a childish and potentially harmful reprisal to a two-sentence statement, and we do not condone his conduct," the court wrote.

There was another part of the article that all bloggers and pundits should pay close heed to (emphasis mine):

Schuh's statement published in the Star was personal in motivation and context and did not meet the standard for protected speech by a public employee, "as a citizen speaking on a matter of public concern," the court found.