One month ago, President Obama nominated former Wisconsin supreme court justice—and This Day honoree—Louis B. Butler Jr. to a district judgeship in the Western District of Wisconsin. Never mind that Butler, in his short tenure on the state supreme court, had proven himself a leading member of what the Wall Street Journal’s John Fund aptly called “the nation’s premier trailblazer in overturning its own precedents and abandoning deference to the legislature’s policy choices.” Never mind that Wisconsin’s voters—yes, Wisconsin’s voters—in April 2008 took the extraordinary step of defeating Butler’s bid to remain on the state supreme court.
Additional material on Butler’s record (material that I haven’t yet reviewed) is available here, here, and here.