In re: City of Milwaukee

Ct. of Appeals denied defendant-City’s petition for writ of mandamus seeking to have Ct. remove Dist. Ct. Judge from series of related lawsuits, alleging that defendant’s police officers conducted unconstitutional pedestrian stops and searches. While defendant asserted that Judge made five comments in prior lawsuits that indicated that he was not impartial or had predisposition to rule against defendant in future cases, none of five statements (four of which did not involve Judge’s reference to extrajudicial source) displayed deep-seated favoritism or antagonism that would make fair judgment impossible. Moreover, Judge’s observation in prior case that defendant’s Chief of Police was encouraging large amount of pedestrian stops did not indicate that Judge abandoned duty to decide each case fairly on its own merits. Record also showed that Dist. Ct. had made important rulings favorable to defendant in prior cases.