Mr. Butler is such a judicial activist that Wisconsin voters rejected his state high court candidacy both times they had a chance to weigh in. In 2000, as a Milwaukee trial court judge, he lost his race for the Supreme Court by a whopping 2-1 margin. Liberal Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle appointed him to the court anyway four years later to fill a vacancy, but Mr. Butler didn't last long. Eighteen months ago, the first time Mr. Butler appeared on the ballot again, voters summarily dumped him after a high-profile race in which he was criticized for being far too liberal even for his state, which hasn't voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1984. It was the first time in more than four decades that an incumbent Wisconsin Supreme Court justice had been defeated for re-election.

Wisconsin voters knew what they were doing.