Judge's Facebook friendship upends Wisconsin custody case

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A divided Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a judge’s decision to become Facebook friends with a woman whose child custody case he was hearing created at least the appearance of bias, the first case of its kind in the state and one that could test the boundaries of social media use by judges.

The case presented the question of whether a judge can violate due process rights by becoming friends with someone on Facebook. That hasn't been addressed yet by the U.S. Supreme Court, making the case one it may want to take up, said attorney Brandon Schwartz.

“Social media is obviously not going away,” said Schwartz, who represented the mother fighting for custody of her child. "It would be an opportunity to provide some guidance by the U.S. Supreme Court to all of the courts across the country.”

The ruling was the latest in a series of examples across the country where a judge's actions on social media call into question their ability to fairly consider cases before them. For example, two years ago the Florida Supreme Court said judges could be Facebook friends with attorneys.

Schwartz said the Wisconsin case was the first case of its kind where a violation of due process rights was alleged because of a judge becoming friends with someone on Facebook.

“It’s an issue the U.S. Supreme Court may have an interest in," he said.

In Tuesday's ruling, the court determined that “the extreme facts of this case rebut the presumption of judicial impartiality,” a due process violation. Justice Annette Ziegler also used the case to “strongly urge” Wisconsin judges to "weigh the advantages and disadvantages of using electronic social media like Facebook.”

“I am concerned that no matter how cautious and attentive the judge may be, a...