The Republican Assembly leader in Wisconsin has announced that he’s created a panel to investigate impeachment criteria for a state Supreme Court justice.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos announced on Sept. 13 that the committee would be investigating the possible impeachment of Justice Janet Protasiewicz due to comments she made about redistricting during her campaign and nearly $10 million in donations she received from the state Democrat Party.
The justice, who played a pivotal role in shifting the court to a 4–3 liberal majority, is now facing pressure to recuse herself from any cases involving redistricting.
The Republican party has taken a strong stance, asserting that unless Justice Protasiewicz voluntarily withdraws from redistricting cases, they will pursue impeachment proceedings.
The GOP move highlights the contentious nature of redistricting and the significance it attaches to judicial impartiality in such matters.
The impeachment criteria panel being created by Mr. Vos will consist of three former Wisconsin Supreme Court justices whom the Speaker did not immediately name.
Mr. Vos stated that they were not being compensated and that he anticipated their work to be completed within a few weeks.
Democrat leaders have denounced this threat as “political extortion” and are mobilizing voters in districts won by the new justice to exert pressure on Republicans to back down.
Altering the composition of the Wisconsin Supreme Court could also impact the 2024 presidential election in the perennial battleground state.
Four of the state’s past six presidential elections were determined by less than one percentage point.
In 2020, the state Supreme Court—which was then controlled 4–3 by conservatives—came within one vote of overturning current Democrat President Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump by nearly 21,000 votes.
With majorities of 64–35 in the state Assembly and 22–11 in the Senate, Wisconsin Republicans are intently focused on the future, particularly on the political maps they drew that helped them achieve near-veto-proof supermajorities that could be in jeopardy of being overturned by the Supreme Court’s new Left-leaning majority.
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