Democrats Launch $4 Million Blitz to Oppose Protasiewicz’s Impeachment

Janet Protasiewicz. Photo courtesy of Janet Protasiewicz’ campaign

Last night the Democratic Party of Wisconsin launched Defend Justice, a multi-pronged statewide campaign to “hold Wisconsin legislative Republicans accountable for their unconstitutional, anti-democratic threat to impeach Justice Janet Protasiewicz,” as a statement by the party noted.

Liberal Protasiewicz defeated conservative Dan Kelly in April by 11 percentage points, an overwhelming margin in a swing state like Wisconsin. During the campaign she called the legislative districts in Wisconsin “rigged,” and now Republican leaders are calling for her to recuse from the case the court is likely to hear as to whether the current maps are an unconstitutional gerrymander.

“When voters elect someone, politicians can’t overturn the results just because they want to stay in power. Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’s threat to impeach Justice Janet Protasiewicz is a desperate, unconstitutional, unprecedented, and obscene power grab to erase the votes of over a million Wisconsinites and lock in the GOP’s gerrymandered maps, the near-total abortion ban, and the power to overturn the 2024 presidential election,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler. “The Defend Justice campaign will make clear to Republican legislators that an unconstitutional impeachment would massively backfire. If Robin Vos moves forward on his impeachment threat, it will permanently define his legacy.”

He promised that the party and other “democracy defending” groups will launch a campaign “to make clear to Wisconsin Republicans that an attempt to impeach Janet Protasiewicz would be an absolute political, moral and constitutional disaster.”

Vos has said it’s “common sense” that Protasiewicz should not rule on a case she has “prejudged,” referring to the redistricting lawsuits. Other Republicans, including U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, have called for her to recuse.

But complaints filed against Protasiewicz with the Wisconsin Judicial Commission, charging that her campaign comments had violated that state’s judicial code of ethics, were dismissed by the commission yesterday, as the Wisconsin Examiner reported. The commission released a letter to her stating that “the Commission dismissed these complaints without action” and “The matter is now closed.”

Vos, however, responded to this by saying the decision “muddies the waters” but Protasiewicz should still be impeached. Former Republican Scott Walker has called for this as well.

Republicans would not need to find Protasiewicz guilty of anything to remove her from the court when it rules on cases like redistricting. They need only a majority vote of the Assembly to impeach Protasiewicz and then the case would go to the Senate for trial. But once impeached, Protasiewicz would have to step down from the case while awaiting trial, where a two-thirds majority vote would be needed to find her guilty. But should the Senate sit on the case without scheduling a trial, Protasiewicz would continue to be removed from the court, leaving it evenly divided at 3-3 on ideological lines.

A delaying tactic like this would be more effective for Republicans than finding Protasiewicz guilty. If the latter happened she would be removed from office and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers would appoint her successor.

Polls have suggested most voters in Wisconsin support nonpartisan maps. A  2019 poll by the Marquette University Law School found that 72 percent of Wisconsin voters want a nonpartisan commission to draw the legislative and congressional district maps instead of the elected officials. That included the support of 63 percent of Republicans, 76 percent of independents, and 83 percent of Democrats.

In the April election Protasiewicz carried 12 Republican-held districts in the Assembly and six in the Senate. On Tuesday, The New York Times contacted all 18 of the Republican legislators in districts Protasiewicz won. Only John Macco, an Assembly member from Green Bay, agreed to be interviewed. “Mr. Macco said it was ‘outrageous’ that Justice Protasiewicz would agree to hear the redistricting case after stating her views about the legislative maps,” the story reported, “but he declined to say whether he would vote for impeachment.

In the past conservative candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court have said that opinions they have previously stated should not require them to recuse from related cases. “For example,” the Times noted, “Justice Brian Hagedorn once compared homosexuality to bestiality, called Planned Parenthood  ‘a wicked organization” and wrote that ‘Christianity is the correct religion, and that insofar as others contradict it, they are wrong.’ He has said those statements would not warrant his recusal on cases about abortion, gay rights or religion.”

Wikler promised the Democratic campaign to prevent an impeachment will include door-knocking, phone calls, text messages and other digital outreach. “Meanwhile, we anticipate other pro-democracy organizations will launch a multimillion-dollar digital and television ad campaign to make sure that every Wisconsinite knows how grave this impeachment threat is and how to contact their legislators about it.”

“This is the time for thunderous public outrage,” Wikler declared.