Name of Wisconsin judge hearing lawsuit challenging union law appears on 2011 Walker recall petition

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A judge overseeing a challenge brought by unions trying to undo Wisconsin’s law that bans nearly all collective bargaining for public workers appears to have signed a 2011 petition to recall then-Gov. Scott Walker from office because of anger over that law.

Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost’s name and signature appears on the petition matching an address where he lived at the time, according to property records. His name is just above that of his now-wife. Conservative WISN-AM radio show host Dan O’Donnell first reported on the signature late Tuesday.

Frost was appointed to the bench in 2020 by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. Evers defeated Walker in 2018. In 2011, at the time of the recall petition, Frost was working as a private practice attorney after graduating law school in 2010.

Frost was in court on Wednesday and did not immediately respond to a message left at his office.

Frost presided over a hearing Tuesday afternoon in response to a motion filed by the Republican-controlled Legislature seeking to dismiss the lawsuit. He said he would issue a decision in the coming weeks.

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