By Gretchen Schuldt
Supreme Court rules don't support Chief Justice Annette K. Ziegler's complaint that the new liberal court majority ignored them when it dismissed at-will employee Randy Koschnick as director of state courts and changed the way the court runs. The Koschnick decision, Ziegler said, "was made without regard for the Constitution, case law, or Supreme Court rules." But here's what the court's own operating procedures (emphasis added) actually say: The court continually reviews its procedures to improve the efficient processing of its caseload and the effective discharge of its administrative responsibilities. Accordingly, these procedures may be changed without notice as circumstances require. It should be reemphasized that these are not rules. They do not purport to limit or describe in binding fashion the powers or duties of any Supreme Court personnel. These internal operating procedures are merely descriptive of how the court currently functions. Any internal operating procedure may be suspended or modified by majority vote of a quorum of the court. The rules say the courts director "is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of" the Supreme Court. Ziegler also said the majority's decision to set up a new committee with new administrative powers and to increase court transparency was made in an "illegitimate closed meeting." It was the then-conservative majority who in 2012 voted, 4-3, to close many Supreme Court administrative meetings. Ziegler voted in favor of secrecy. The new majority voted this week to open those meetings again. And did the majority "gut" Ziegler's constitutional authority as administrator of the court, which she alleged in a statement? In a word, no. Here's what the constitution says: "The chief justice of the supreme court shall be the administrative head of the judicial system and shall exercise this administrative authority pursuant to procedures adopted by the supreme court." (Emphasis added.) Finally, Ziegler said changes like those the court majority has announced are made "when seven members of the court convene with an agenda prepared by the Chief Justice and at a time set by the Chief Justice during the court’s business year, which is September-June." Ziegler, in other words, believes the court should consider only the rules that Ziegler likes at a time that Ziegler likes. But now the court's new four-member majority constitutes a quorum of the court and will actually have a say in how things run. The court's own procedures and the state constitution make that clear.
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