The case revealed a few examples where wealthy donors, including corporations that are banned from giving to candidates, gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Club and later stood to benefit from legislation Walker and the Republican Legislature passed. Such laws included one retroactively protecting the lead paint industry from litigation and another changing the state’s mining regulations.

Conflict of interest alleged

The prosecutors also asked the Supreme Court to review the case because two of the conservative Wisconsin justices in the 4-2 majority had direct ties to those under investigation.

Records revealed Walker telling Republican operative Karl Rove that Johnson and the Wisconsin Club for Growth were instrumental in electing Michael Gableman and re-electing David Prosser to the state court.

UC-Irvine law professor Rick Hasen said the odds are always against the Supreme Court hearing a case given how many petitions it receives.

He said he thought the U.S. Supreme Court should have taken issue with Gableman and Prosser not recusing themselves, though it’s possible they didn’t see the prosecutors as having the same due process rights as private citizens.