Wisconsin Supreme Court judge who called voting maps ‘absolutely positively rigged’ won’t recuse from redistricting case despite impeachment threats

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet C. Protasiewicz is seen during a public hearing Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

A liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court justice who received nearly $10 million in campaign contributions from Democrats may now face impeachment for refusing to recuse herself from a districting case over maps she once slammed as “absolutely positively rigged.”

Janet Protasiewicz is a newly-elected justice on Wisconsin’s highest court, which has a 4-3 liberal majority. She took the bench in August and has yet to hear a single case. Still, Republicans threatened that if Protasiewicz did not recuse herself from presiding over a challenge to the Republican-drawn state legislative maps, she could be removed from the bench.

Former Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican popular with Wisconsin conservatives, even said that the Assembly was “obligated” to impeach Protasiewicz unless she recused herself from the case.

Despite the warnings, Protasiewicz handed down a 47-page decision detailing the reasons underlying her choice to participate in the case on Friday. Protasiewicz said her ruling was based on “strict adherence to the law.”

The justice summarized the arguments made by Republicans in favor of her recusal: the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (DPW) made $9.9 million in campaign contributions to the judge and would stand to benefit if the court were to order the adoption of new maps, and Protasiewicz spoke out against the maps before she was seated on the bench.

Protasiewicz said arguments that Democrats would benefit from a ruling in the case were without merit. The DPW, as Protasiewicz pointed out in her ruling, is not a party to the lawsuit before the court and recusal on the basis of possible benefit to a non-party would be “unprecedented.” She noted that several Republican groups were major donors to other judges’ campaigns, and the connection was not a basis for their recusal in this or other cases. Further, she said, if campaign donations were to necessitate recusal, the judiciary would soon find itself at a standstill.

Indeed, Protasiewicz was vocal about two major issues during her campaign: abortion rights and Wisconsin’s gerrymandered legislative maps — which the judge called “rigged.” Shortly after she took the bench in August, a number of groups filed a legal challenge to Wisconsin’s districting maps. In response came Republican calls for recusal.

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