State Attorney General Brad Schimel asked the state Supreme Court in a letter Thursday to appoint a special master to investigate the leak of John Doe documents.
The John Doe investigations, looking into Governor Scott Walker’s alleged illegal acceptance of corporate campaign contributions, began in 2010, but were halted in 2015 by the state Supreme Court. The decision was upheld earlier this month by the U.S. Supreme Court.
However, documents containing this illegally seized evidence were released to the British newspaper The Guardian last September. The leaked documents illustrate the alleged campaign finance violations, including Walker accepting donations through a dark money organization, the Wisconsin Club for Growth.
Schimel urged state Supreme Court Chief Justice Patience Roggensack to appoint a special master to confirm the final decision of the unlawfully seized evidence in this case, “confirm[ing] that the prosecution team has, in fact, been ‘completely divested’ of this evidence.”
The special master would additionally be tasked with investigating the release of the previously sealed John Doe documents and “the breach of the secrecy orders in this case related to
Schimel additionally offered the assistance of the Department of Justice in this investigation, including “investigatory support and legal advice to any special master this Court chooses to appoint.”
