David Prosser is now claiming that the judicial investigation of his choking of a fellow justice is an infringement of his speech rights:

State Supreme Court Justice David Prosser said Monday that the Wisconsin Judicial Commission’s investigation into his alleged ethical violations is itself a violation of his constitutional rights, according to a court filing.

Prosser, the subject of an ethics complaint filed in March with the Supreme Court, said in his response to the complaint Monday that the commission “may not investigate or prosecute protected speech, advocacy and etiquette of Wisconsin Supreme Court justices when they are deliberating in confidential closed conferences.”

The three alleged ethics violations stem from a June 13 incident in which Prosser acknowledges putting his hands around the neck of Justice Ann Walsh Bradley “to protect himself” and a February 2010 incident in which he admits calling Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson “a total bitch.”

First, it wasn’t a closed conference, it was a discussion in Bradley’s office, and he was asked to leave, and he is alleged to have assaulted her.

Beating up on a woman is not, “deliberating in confidential closed conferences.”

As an aside, anyone want to bet that this isn’t the first time that he’s been “alleged” to have assaulted a woman?