Republicans in Wisconsin are threatening to remove from office the newly elected state supreme court justice Janet Protasiewicz if she refuses to recuse herself from cases involving gerrymandering. The effort comes on the heels of Republicans in the state senate advancing a move to oust the state’s top elections official.
The efforts to remove Protasiewicz and the Wisconsin elections commission administrator, Meagan Wolfe, from office have been decried by Democrats and government watchdog groups as undemocratic and could affect the administration of elections in 2024.
Protasiewicz won her election in April in a landslide – an uncommon victory in Wisconsin, where statewide elections are often determined by narrow margins. The race drew massive spending for both sides, with outlays by special interest groups and campaign contributions topping $45m, making the race the most expensive state judicial election in US history.
During the campaign, Protasiewicz spoke with unusual candor about her views on policy issues including abortion and redistricting, calling the state’s legislative maps “rigged”. Her approach drew criticism from conservatives during the race and in the immediate aftermath of her victory, when Republicans first floated the possibility of impeachment.
Now, the assembly speaker, Robin Vos, who did not respond to a request for comment, has said it is a possibility he is actively considering. In comments on a radio talkshow, Vos indicated the assembly would impeach Protasiewicz if she refuses to recuse herself from cases pending at the court that challenge the state’s gerrymandered legislative maps.
The moves by the GOP in Wisconsin parallel maneuvers in Florida, where the governor and GOP presidential candidate, Ron DeSantis, has suspended two Democratic prosecutors, including one who said he would not enforce the state’s 15-week abortion ban and the state’s only Black female state attorney. Similarly, in Georgia, Republicans in the state legislature have said they will pursue unseating Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney prosecuting Trump and his allies under the state’s racketeering law.
“I think what you’re seeing all around the country are governors and Republican-controlled legislatures looking at what other states have done and saying, ‘Wow, look at that. We should try that here,’” said Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin.
In a filing to the Wisconsin supreme court, Republican defendants named in a lawsuit challenging the state’s legislative districts called on Protasiewicz to recuse herself, arguing her statements on the campaign trail disqualified her from considering a case on gerrymandering.
Ryan Owens, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin who ran for attorney general as a Republican in 2021, defended the calls for Protasiewicz’s recusal, arguing that she was too explicit about her policy views during the campaign.
“Candidates who are running for justice shouldn’t go to the levels that she did when campaigning,” he said. “In the short term, it might gain you votes, but in the long term, you put the court’s credibility at risk.”
Heck called the threat of impeachment an overreach and described concerns about Protasiewicz’s campaign statements as “selective outrage”, given previous conservative justices’ public comments on issues before the court. Heck pointed to a 2015 case in which multiple supreme court justices who received campaign donations from the Club for Growth ruled that the conservative group had not violated campaign finance laws in its dealings with former governor Scott Walker.
A state judiciary disciplinary panel has dismissed complaints that Protasiewicz’s campaign comments were unethical, according to the Associated Press.
Republicans in the state assembly could impeach Protasiewicz by a simple majority. A conviction would require the state senate’s approval by a supermajority, which Republicans secured in an April special election. But even if the senate failed to convict or declined to move forward with a trial, Protasiewicz would be required to abstain from ruling on cases immediately after impeachment until a conviction or acquittal – leaving the court with three liberals and three conservatives indefinitely.
If Protasiewicz is impeached or resigns, Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, would appoint a new justice. If this were to happen before December, a re-election would be triggered for 2 April 2024 – the same date as Wisconsin’s presidential primary in which high voter turnout is expected for Republicans.
In an effort to pre-empt the possible impeachment, the Wisconsin Democratic party has launched a $4m campaign to pressure Republicans supporting impeachment to reverse course. The Wisconsin Democratic party chair, Ben Wikler, wrote on Twitter that the impeachment threat amounted to an “unconstitutional abuse of power to nullify a landslide election, and erase the votes of 1,021,822 Wisconsinites”.
The possible shake-up on the supreme court comes in the midst of a Republican-led push to oust Wisconsin’s top elections official from her position, an attempt that would probably be challenged in court if it succeeds.
Wolfe’s future as the top elections official in Wisconsin has been uncertain for months, as members of the commission and Republicans in the state legislature fight over her reappointment. When Wolfe’s term expired at the end of June, Democrats on the bipartisan commission, anticipating that the senate would not vote to confirm her, refused to vote on her reappointment. The senate moved forward with her confirmation anyway, holding a hearing 29 August that drew comments from rightwing activists who peddle conspiracy theories and deny the results of the 2020 election and testimony from local elections clerks who defended Wolfe.
Complaints about Wolfe, an experienced and well-regarded administrator who serves at the direction of the bipartisan commission, surfaced in the wake of the 2020 election, which Joe Biden won by more than 20,000 votes in Wisconsin. Wolfe became a focal point of conspiracy theories and a foe for Republicans, who claimed she mismanaged the 2020 election. Misinformation and misconceptions about the administrator and her role have circulated widely since.
“Basically, Republicans are looking for a scapegoat as to why Donald Trump lost in Wisconsin other than receiving fewer votes than Joe Biden,” said Ann Jacobs, a Democratic member of the bipartisan commission. “What they have settled on is making Meagan Wolf the boogeyman of the election, and foisting all of their anxieties about it upon her.”
The senate elections committee will vote on Monday on Wolfe’s confirmation, a step closer to a full senate vote and increasing the likelihood that Wolfe’s status will be settled in court.
Heck described the Republican efforts to oust Wolfe and Protasiewicz as parallel, “in the sense that they leave no stone unturned to figure out how they can gain an advantage”.
