Federal judge refuses to dismiss 'John Doe' lawsuit
Source: WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL
A lawsuit challenging a five-county investigation focusing on coordination between outside political groups and recall campaigns will continue, a federal judge has ruled.
Judge Rudolph Randa of the U.S. District Court in Milwaukee rejected arguments by prosecutors and an investigator in the "John Doe" investigation that the court lacked jurisdiction to intervene in the probe and that they had immunity from such challenges.
Wisconsin Club for Growth and one of its officials, Eric O'Keefe, filed the lawsuit claiming that the investigation was unfairly targeting only conservative groups and that the ongoing probe was hampering their free-speech rights to participate in upcoming elections.
According to a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign estimate, Club for Growth spent about $9.1 million in 2011 and 2012 leading up to a historic wave of 15 recall elections, including against Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican.
"O'Keefe has engaged in extensive issue advocacy in the past," Randa wrote in Tuesday's decision. "He wants to jump back into the fray for purposes of the upcoming election cycle, but he is prevented from doing so because he is the target of the John Doe investigation, subjecting him and his associates to secret investigatory proceedings and the threat of criminal prosecution. Thus, O'Keefe has standing to bring this lawsuit."
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