“A republic, if you can keep it.” was Benjamin Franklin’s reply when asked “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a monarchy or a republic?” by Elizabeth Willing Powell on September 18, 1787. “If we can keep it” seems to be the question of the day almost 240 years later with our hyper-active judicial branch and a political party seemingly more concerned with illegal immigrants and the entrenched unelected bureaucracy than our own citizens, a majority of which voted for the President of the United States.

Many of our Founding Fathers spoke to the importance of the new Constitution. John Jay, for example, said “America belongs to ‘We the People.’ It does not belong to the Congress. It does not belong to special interest groups, It does not belong to the courts. It belongs to ‘We the People’…” Benjamin Rush said “Where there is no law, there is no liberty.” Thomas Jefferson said “If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.”

The Federalist, later known as the Federalist Papers, is a collection of 85 papers written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay collectively under the pseudonym of “Publius” to promote the ratification of the Constitution. Federalist paper Number 81 expressed that the purpose of the judiciary was to interpret the law and not create it. Further, the interpretation must be on what was written and not what they wanted it to say.

So where are we today with an over active judiciary? Tom Fitton, current President of Judicial Watch Inc, recently wrote a Guest Column published in the AMAC Magazine (Jun 2025) titled “Activist Judges Must Be Impeached” with a subtitle “Their judicial overreach undermines the Constitution and the Rule of Law”. He concludes with “No one is above the law as written in the Constitution – especially not those who interpret it.”

Recent national news concerns the DOJ criminal investigation into New York Attorney General Letita James for mortgage fraud. James, you may remember, campaigned for AG stating that she would get Trump! In other words, she had the suspect she just needed the crime! Although she is the Attorney General of New York, the DOJ is investigating paperwork she authorized stating she was a citizen of –and apparently living in—Virginia. (That is one long commute!) But that is not all, NY Governor Hochul has recently shared that there is a multi-million dollar budget item to cover personal legal costs incurred by the AG!

Wisconsin has its own problems with the judiciary. In April a Milwaukee County Judge helped a man evade immigration authorities and is now suspended and facing two federal charges. In May a Dane County Judge was suspended seven days for judicial misconduct on two occasions; one in May of 2019 and one in December of 2021.

Readers of Couleeconservatives.com are well aware that local State Representative Steve Doyle (D-94) is being investigated by the Wisconsin Ethics Commission over election issues involving his work as an attorney. Since he lives in, and his law office is in, La Crosse County it is probable the alleged misbehavior might have happened in a La Crosse County Courtroom. If the representative is found guilty of wrongdoing and If any of the cases in question were in Judge Gloria Doyle’s courtroom then maybe she needs investigating too. After all, an attorney wife should have known that what was happening was wrong.

Then there is the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Remember the State Legislative Districts had to be redrawn before the 2024 election? There was a relatively minor problem, but it was a problem. Why didn’t the Supreme Court direct the maps be corrected with minor changes rather than allowing the complete re-drawing which caused massive change. (The problems this caused are worthy of another article.) The Supreme Court gets all the credit for this undemocratic fiasco – which by the way favors the Democrats! One example, my former representative only has 31% of the same population as she previously represented!

And, I haven’t even brought up all the legal attacks on President Trump; first as “Trump 45”, then as former President and Presidential candidate, and now as “Trump 47”.

This judicial warfare, or judicial misbehavior, or judicial obstruction lends meaning to Benjamin Franklin’s answer “A republic, if you can keep it.” It also explains some of the other quotations from the Founding Fathers and the remarks in Federalist Paper Number 85. And, as Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton concluded his referenced guest column “No one is above the law as written in the Constitution—especially not those who interpret it.”

There are judicial elections for State Supreme Court, some District Appeals Courts, and many county circuit courts in the spring of 2026 so get informed and get involved. In this election, we have a state to keep!