Judge Asked To Release John Doe Documents

CORRECTION: Wisconsin Public Radio reported on Thursday morning that federal Judge Rudolph Randa had issued a ruling in the John Doe lawsuit ordering nearly all documents in the case to be released to the public. It was a proposed order, not a final order, and hasn’t been signed by Randa. We regret the error.

Randa agreed last week to let several journalism groups intervene in the lawsuit, which was filed by the Wisconsin Club for Growth against John Doe prosecutors. Those organizations wanted the release of all documents related to the probe, which is looking into allegations of coordination between the groups and Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign during the latter’s 2012 recall effort.

In a surprise move on Wednesday, prosecutors said they didn’t object to that. The attorney for special prosecutor Francis Schmitz wrote that this case had “become so widely known that maintaining the integrity of the investigation may no longer justify maintaining secrecy.”

Attorneys for the Wisconsin Club for Growth told Randa that disclosure of some of those documents could harm its First Amendment rights. It drafted a proposed order for Randa calling on him to keep four documents secret, but the club said it didn’t object to the rest of the documents being publicized.

Randa has already ordered that prosecutors halt the investigation. Prosecutors on Wednesday asked the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to stay that ruling.