James Sample, counsel in the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, is introducing the nation to the ethics of the Wisconsin judiciary.

And it's not pretty.

Sample's Can $2 Million For A Judge Buy A $350 Million Tax Refund? in the Huffington Post rips Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler's corruption and the system allowing her to continue in her position.

Sample sees the Ziegler affair as emblematic of a national trend as state judicial systems become corrupt political machines.

Writes Sample:

In short, the influence of big money in our nation's state courts is nearing the point where, well, "you're going to want to tell your great grandkids about what happened to the rule of law in America back in the day."