Lynn Adelman

Lynn Steven Adelman (born October 1, 1939) is an American lawyer and former politician. He has served as a United States district judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin since December 1997. Prior to becoming a federal judge, he served 20 years as a Democratic member of the Wisconsin Senate, representing southwest Milwaukee County and neighboring municipalities from 1977 to 1997. He also ran three times for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974, 1982, and 1984.

Early life and education

Adelman was born in Milwaukee. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University in 1961 and a Bachelor of Laws from Columbia Law School in 1965.

Career

Adelman was a research assistant at Columbia from 1965 to 1966. He was a trial attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Wisconsin from 1967 to 1968, and then entered private practice in Milwaukee in 1968. In 1993, Adelman represented Todd Mitchell, a black man convicted of a racially motivated attack against a 14-year old white boy, in '' Wisconsin v. Mitchell'', a landmark first amendment case.

Political career

Adelman made his first bid for elected office in 1974, running for U.S. House of Representatives and seeking to oust ten-term Republican incumbent Glenn Robert Davis from Wisconsin's 9th congressional district. Davis, who was a close ally of then-president Richard Nixon, was politically wounded by the Watergate scandal and Nixon's other recent controversies. Adelman focused much of his campaign on issues of executive overreach and the need for Congress to re-assert its authority. Davis, however, was defeated in the Republican primary by moderate Republican Bob Kasten. The general election was one of the most hotly-contested in the state, with both campaigns breaching campaign finance limits that had existed at that time—Adelman spent about $104,000 and Kasten spent about $89,000 (adjusted for inflation, $677,000 and $579,000, respectively). Kasten defeated Adelman with 52% of the vote.

In the aftermath of the election, Adelman was critical of some of Kasten's early votes in Congress and seemed intent on a rematch in 1976. Rather than running again for Congress in 1976, Adelman moved south from Shorewood, Wisconsin—in northern Milwaukee County—to New Berlin, Wisconsin—in southeast Waukesha County. The move immediately sparked speculation that Adelman would instead run for Wisconsin Senate against Republican incumbent James Devitt in the 28th Senate district. Shortly after Adelman's move, newspapers broke the story that Devitt was the subject of a John Doe investigation relating to campaign finance violations during his run for governor in 1974. Adelman officially announced his candidacy in June 1976. Devitt was indicted a month later. Despite the indictment, Devitt won renomination against two Republican challengers. Adelman won the general election in a landslide, receiving nearly two thirds of the vote.

While serving his second term in the state Senate, Adelman made two more runs for U.S. House of Representatives—the 1980s redistricting had shifted Adelman from the 9th congressional district to the 4th district. In the first election under those new maps, Adelman launched a primary challenge against 17-term incumbent congressman Clement Zablocki. Zablocki had not had a competitive primary or general election since winning the office in 1948. In the campaign, Adelman sought to tie Zablocki to the economic policies of the Reagan administration in the midst of the early 1980s recession. Zablocki was sometimes seen as too conservative for his safely Democratic district, but he fended off the criticisms and distanced himself from Reagan, winning the primary with 60% of the vote.

Zablocki died just a year later and Adelman made another run in the special election to succeed him in the spring of 1984. He lost the primary to state senator Jerry Kleczka—another popular Polish Catholic from Milwaukee's south side.

Adelman went on to win re-election four more times in the 28th Senate district. Through much of his tenure in the Senate, he served on the committee overseeing the judiciary, and was chairman in the years when Democrats held the majority.

Federal judicial service

In 1997, Adelman chose to apply for appointment as U.S. district judge in the Eastern District of Wisconsin to fill the vacancy created when district judge Thomas John Curran took senior status at the beginning of that year. He was one of nineteen applicants, which included nine other state judges, two U.S. magistrate judges, and prominent state attorneys, including Maxine Aldridge White, Joan F. Kessler, and the then-chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin Mark Sostarich. Adelman's application rose above the others as state Republicans embraced his candidacy and Republican then-governor Tommy Thompson wrote a glowing recommendation, describing Adelman as "thoughtful, fair, and open-minded." Newspapers at the time speculated that Republican praise for Adelman was at least partly motivated by their desire to flip his seat in a special election and thereby regain the majority in the state Senate.

Adelman was nominated to the seat by President Clinton on September 8, 1997. He received a hearing by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on October 29, 1997. He was confirmed by the full United States Senate by voice vote on November 13, 1997, and received his commission on December 23, 1997.

Notable cases

''Frank, et al vs Walker''

The Wisconsin Voter ID law was a law passed by then Wisconsin governor Scott Walker in 2011. This law made voters of Wisconsin show a state-issued photo ID at the polls before they could vote. The reasoning behind this law was that Scott Walker wanted to stop the voter fraud that was allegedly happening within the state of Wisconsin. Adelman ruled, on April 29, 2014, that this law violated the fourteenth amendment and thus the law was unconstitutional. Adelman made this ruling because in the trial he saw no evidence of voter fraud and concluded that the law was unfair to minority voters because "Blacks and Latinos are more likely than whites to lack an ID".

Adelman was overturned on appeal with the Appeals Court offering a particularly stunning rebuke:

“the district judge found as a fact that the majority of the Supreme Court was wrong about benefits such as better record keeping and promoting public confidence. Maybe that testimony will eventually persuade the Justices themselves, but in our hierarchical judicial system a district court cannot declare a statute unconstitutional just because he thinks (with or without the support of a political scientist) that the dissent was right and the majority wrong.” rank v. Walker, 768 F.3d 744, 750 (7th Cir. 2014)The Panel continued: “The district judge heard from one political scientist, whose view may or may not be representative of the profession's. After a majority of the Supreme Court has concluded that photo ID requirements promote confidence, a single district judge cannot say as a “fact” that they do not, even if 20 political scientists disagree with the Supreme Court.” Frank v. Walker, 768 F.3d 744, 750 (7th Cir. 2014)/blockquote>

''Johnny Kimble vs Wisconsin's Department of Workforce Development, et al.''

In this case Johnny Kimble sued former Equal Rights Division Secretary Sheehan Donoghue for not giving him a pay raise based on his race and gender. The Equal Rights Division job is to investigate discrimination claims and to judge whether the claim of discrimination is true. Johnny Kimble is an ex employee of the Equal Rights Division and ran the office in Milwaukee. Sheehan Donoghue was appointed to this position in 1991 by then governor of Wisconsin Tommy Thompson. Adelman's ruling on this case was that Johnny Kimble was denied pay raises because of his race and that the Department of Workforce Development was to pay Johnny Kimble what he lost. This ruling was made on February 25, 2010. Adelman said that Sheehan Donoghue made statements that contradicted to what she said and what other witnesses said, she also got defensive and evasive during the questioning, and the evidence on the case did not support her claims. The evidence they found was when the Milwaukee office did well she credited the office, not Johnny, but when the Madison office did well she credited the section chief, who was white. Also, whenever Johnny said they need technical support she ignored him, but when it was a white employee, she promised help.

''St. Augustine School v. Evers''

In June 2017, Adelman found that Tony Evers, then Superintendent of Public Instruction of Wisconsin, did not violate the Constitution's Free Exercise Clause nor its Establishment Clause when he denied bussing to an independent Catholic school because there was a nearby archdiocesan school. In his opinion, Adelman referenced Wikipedia articles on Traditionalist Catholic and Montessori education. His judgment was affirmed by a divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in October 2018.

''United States vs. Sujata Sachdeva''

In this trial, Koss Corporation's Chief Financial Advisor Sujata Sachdeva was charged with embezzling $34 million from the company. The other person involved in the embezzlement was Julie Mulvaney who was a senior accountant at Koss Corporation. The Koss Corporation is a manufacturer of headphones. Sachdeva used almost all of the $34 million she embezzled, from the Koss Corporation, to go on a wild shopping spree. The shopping spree consisted of shopping at designer, jewelry, department stores, and other high-end retailers. Sachdeva, along with Mulvaney, tried to cover up the embezzlement by creating false accounting records. Mulvaney created falsified journal records to cover Sachdeva's spending spree. Sachdeva's attorney's argued that Sachdeva was mentally ill with alcoholism, diagnosed bipolar disorder, and a shopping addiction, when she went on the shopping spree. The sentence the federal prosecutor wanted was 15–20 years in prison, and the lawyers for Sachdeva wanted the sentenced reduce to 6–7 years in prison, because of her mental condition. Adelman sentenced Sachdeva to 11 years in federal prison on November 17, 2010. Adelman gave some leniency to Sachdeva because of her cooperation with the FBI.

''United States vs. William White''

This case is about William White, White is a Neo-Nazi who runs the Virginia-based American Nationalist Socialist Workers Party. White posted the address, name, and telephone numbers of a juror in Chicago who convicted a white supremacist, in 2004, to his website. The prosecutors claimed that White did this in hopes that the juror would be harmed for the conviction of the white supremacist. Adelman at first dismissed the indictment of White, because he did not threaten or actually caused harm to the man and he obtained the information legally, and that what White did was covered over the First Amendment. This judgement by Adelman was overturned and White went on to trial and was convicted by a jury in Chicago. After this sentencing Adelman reversed it for the same reasons he dismissed the case in the first place. Then on February 20, 2013, Adelman did sentence White to three and half years in prison for soliciting violence to a juror. When this sentencing happened, White was already in jail for other threats and intimidation practices.

''United States vs. Hannah Dugan''

In April 2025, federal agents arrested Wisconsin circuit court judge Hannah Dugan and charged her with obstructing a federal proceeding and concealing a person from arrest. The situation arose from the case of Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an undocumented immigrant who was appearing in Dugan's courtroom as a defendant. After being informed that federal agents were waiting outside the main courtroom entrance to detain Flores-Ruiz for deportation, Dugan allowed him to leave out of an alternate door. Dugan was indicted on May 13, and the case was randomly assigned to Adelman. The case received a rush of national attention as Democrats and legal experts denounced the arrest as an assault on the independence of the judiciary and an attempt by the Donald Trump administration to intimidate political opponents.

Dugan's attorneys have moved to dismiss the case on the basis of judicial immunity, official acts, and the Tenth Amendment. They wrote "The government's prosecution of Judge Dugan is virtually unprecedented and entirely unconstitutional".

Criticism of the Supreme Court under John Roberts

In February 2020, Adelman wrote an article criticizing the recent record of the Supreme Court of the United States under Chief Justice John Roberts The article singled out Chief Justice Roberts and accused him of actively participating in "undermining American democracy," through activist decisions on voting rights and campaign finance by corporate interests. Adelman wrote, "Instead of doing what it can to ensure the maintenance of a robust democratic republic, the Court's decisions ally it with the most anti-democratic currents in American politics, forces that would be pleased if unlimited money could be spent on elections and if minorities could be deterred from voting."

The article specifically cited a number of partisan 5–4 decisions, such as ''Shelby County v. Holder'', (which struck down part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965), '' Rucho v. Common Cause'', (which decided that federal courts could not rule on cases of gerrymandering), '' Citizens United v. FEC'', (which allowed unlimited corporate spending on elections), and ''Janus v. AFSCME'' (which held that it was unconstitutional for public employee unions to require collective bargaining fees). The article created waves in legal circles because of the unusually blunt criticism of the Court coming from a sitting federal judge. Legal scholar Jonathan Turley argued that the article makes "a better case of bias against himself than he does Chief Justice John Roberts" and noted previous articles where Adelman had also directly criticized conservatives while serving as a federal judge. The Judicial Council for the Seventh Circuit censured Judge Adelman for writing this article.

Consideration for Seventh Circuit

On January 22, 2010, United States Senators Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold forwarded four names to the Obama White House for consideration to fill the vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit created when Judge Terence T. Evans assumed senior status.Adam Korbitz
Kohl, Feingold forward four names to President Obama for Seventh Circuit
''State Bar of Wisconsin'' (January 25, 2010). Adelman was recommended along with Victoria F. Nourse, Richard Sankovitz and Dean Strang, but was not selected for the spot.

Personal life and family

Lynn Adelman is the eldest of three sons born to Albert Adelman and his wife Edith (' Margoles) Adelman. Albert Adelman was a successful businessman in Milwaukee, and became a prominent member of the Milwaukee Jewish community, serving as national chairman of United Jewish Appeal, Wisconsin chairman of Israel Bonds, and president of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation. The Albert and Edith Adelman House in Fox Point, Wisconsin, was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Lynn Adelman married Elizabeth "Betty" Halmbacher on April 23, 1976, at Corrales, New Mexico. Through the marriage, Adelman became stepfather to Betty's two daughters from her previous marriage.

Electoral history

U.S. House of Representatives (1974)

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", Primary Election, September 10, 1974

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, November 5, 1974

Wisconsin Senate (1976–1996)

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, November 2, 1976

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, November 4, 1980

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, November 6, 1984

U.S. House of Representatives (1982, 1984)

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", Primary Election, September 14, 1982

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, November 2, 1982

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", Primary Election, February 21, 1984

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, April 3, 1984

See also

* List of Jewish American jurists

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Adelman, Lynn
1939 births
Living people
20th-century American Jews
20th-century American judges
20th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American judges
Columbia Law School alumni
Democratic Party Wisconsin state senators
Jewish state legislators in Wisconsin
Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
Lawyers from Milwaukee
Princeton University alumni
United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton