Know the Facts

Bipartisan Support for this Nonpartisan Office

Jeff's endorsement list includes four conservatively leaning Supreme Court justices, 22 current and retired court of appeals judges and dozens of current and retired trial court judges throughout the district (ten appointed by Governor Walker).

The justices and judges endorsing Judge Davis know that his experience handling hundreds of cases in the trial and appellate courts matters and they know that, as a sitting appellate judge, he has strived to apply the law-whether it be a statute, case law, or the Constitution-as it exists without bias and in a clear, well-reasoned manner.

Grogan's Lack of Experience

Grogan is a career entry level clerk willing to play politics and mislead in an attempt to get a better job for which she is not qualified. No governor, Republican or Democrat, has ever been willing to appoint her to be a judge.

Judge Davis's opponent, Shelley Grogan, is a career law clerk, which is an entry level position in the court system. She applied for the appointment with Governor Evers, and was passed over without an interview. She has refused to make her application public but we know she cited iconic liberal jurists, e.g., Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as those she most admired, while now claiming to be a highly conservative "Constitutionalist". She was previously passed over for a judicial appointment by Gov. Walker without so much as an interview.

Despite this sound bi-partisan rejection, Grogan has repeatedly touted her experience as a law clerk as akin to actually being a sitting Supreme Court justice, claiming that she "performs the same tasks" as the justice she works for and that she "may be the most qualified candidate to ever run for the court of appeals" in its 43 year history, thus calling into question her trustworthiness, thoughtfulness and humility — qualities that are essential to being an effective judge.

Davis's Real-World Experience

In contrast Davis took an enormous pay cut in order to provide a public service and bring to the bench real world experience needed so that Wisconsin businesses can thrive, in order to provide good paying jobs.

Jeff was chosen and appointed by Governor Evers because of the extensive real-world experience he brought to the bench, including in high stakes business law cases that set landmark precedents in the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Accomplished private practice attorneys often don't consider the judiciary because they have thriving practices, and frankly, because of the difference in pay. Judge Davis had reached a point in his career where he felt it was time to give back - this was his calling.

Grogan Hasn't Tried a Case or Handled an Appeal

To put the difference in experience in context, according to CCAP, Judge Davis is shown as counsel of record in 107 Wisconsin state trial court cases, and 77 appeals in the court of appeals and supreme court since that data began to be collected in 1996. This does not include federal or non-Wisconsin cases (where Judge Davis had a very active practice) or any cases where he was counsel of record in the nine years he practiced prior to 1996. The same numbers for Ms. Grogan are zero-there is no evidence that she has tried a case, handled an appeal, or been hired by a client.

Death Penalty Case

As a young lawyer, and at the request of the American Bar Association, Davis spent countless hours, unpaid, seeking to get life in prison rather than death for a man who did not shoot anyone, but was involved in a failed prison break.

The death penalty case that is the subject of attack ads against Judge Davis concerned a death row inmate, William Van Poyck, who was executed in 2013. Davis became involved in this case at the post-conviction stage in an effort to have the sentence reduced to life in prison, at the request of the American Bar Association, which has a program to recruit pro bono counsel from large law firms to handle these complex cases. Van Poyck's conviction and sentence was based on a finding by the jury and sentencing judge that was later proven false: that he killed a prison guard. In reality Van Poyck had participated in a botched attempt to assist a friend in escaping from a prison transport van in West Palm Beach, during which an accomplice, Frank Valdes, shot and killed a guard. (Valdes was subsequently beaten to death in his prison cell by eight Florida State Prison guards.) The appellate issues that were raised included the questionable grounds for imposing death and the shoddy representation Van Poyck had received at trial and the results were close, losing twice by narrow 4-3 votes in the Florida Supreme Court, and in multiple proceedings in federal district and appellate courts. Here is the letter Jeff wrote to the then Governor of Florida on the day of Van Poyck's execution and here is the letter Van Poyck sent to Judge Davis the day before his execution. Quarles & Brady received a national pro bono award from the American Bar Association in large part because of this case.

Here is a letter from the former director of the American Bar Association Death Penalty Representation project commending Judge Davis for the work he did on this case, and explaining why such work is important to the legal system. As you can see Judge Davis is in good company in handling this type of case — others having done so include Chief Justice John Roberts, former U.S. Solicitor Generals Kenneth Starr and Donald Verilli, and U.S. Senators Ted Cruz and Tim Kaine.

In light of the above, it comes as no surprise that Politifact gave Grogan's campaign a "Half True" in its assessment as to its accuracy. See the Politifact piece here to obtain the truth about this misleading ad campaign.

People Who Know the Legal System Support Davis

Judge Davis's endorsement list includes numerous judges, justices and former clerks who are very familiar with Shelley Grogan and her work (including Judge Kitty Brennan, for whom Ms. Grogan clerked but does not mention in any of her campaign materials discussing her prior experience). In contrast, Shelley Grogan's endorsers-who largely consist of politicians and strong affiliates of the Republican party-do not know Judge Davis, have never worked with him, and none have professed any knowledge or familiarity with, or criticism of, his work as an attorney or judge. Their endorsements are clearly based on political expediency rather than the qualifications of the candidates, a fact made all the more remarkable since Judge Davis has never belonged to a party or been actively involved in politics and Grogan filed an unsuccessful application with Governor Evers in which she apparently sought to portray herself as liberal.

Read Davis's Decisions Yourself

Judge Davis has 20 authored opinions since joining the bench, in addition to numerous non-authored summary disposition orders and per curiams, covering a wide array of issues, including insurance, property tax, criminal, open records, contracts, commitment issues, and termination of parental rights, to name just a few. Judge Davis's work has received widespread public praise in the form of endorsement quotes from his colleagues on the bench, including from Chief Justice Roggensack, Justice Ziegler, Judges Neubauer, Reilly and Fitzpatrick at the court of appeals, as well as many trial judges. Letters of support have been sent by judges to numerous local papers including from Racine County Judge Gene Gasiorkiewicz, Washington County Judge Andrew Gonring, Court of Appeals Judge Michael R. Fitzpatrick, and Court of Appeals Judge Paul Reilly (Judge Reilly is the presiding judge of the court on which Judge Davis sits).

Links to Judge Davis's authored opinions are listed below.

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