Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Leaves the Door Open Regarding Possible Impeachment of Supreme Court Justice
Thursday, August 31st, 2023 -- 9:01 AM
(Jessie Opoien and Bill Glauber, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) Assembly Speaker Robin Vos continues to leave the door open to launching impeachment proceedings against state Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz if she does not recuse herself from lawsuits challenging the state's electoral maps.
According to Jessie Opoien and Bill Glauber with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Rochester Republican raised the possibility earlier this month, adding that he does not take the issue lightly.
Since then, behind-the-scenes battles among justices and court employees have escalated with the court's conservative chief justice accusing its new liberal majority of pulling off "an unprecedented coup."
Asked about the court during a Tuesday news conference in Oak Creek, Vos told reporters he respects the judiciary's independence as a co-equal branch of government and said most of the dispute appears to be an internal struggle over how the court should operate.
But asked specifically about the possibility of impeaching Protasiewicz, Vos said it's "common sense" that she should not rule on a case she has "prejudged." In January, Protasiewicz called the state's legislative maps "rigged" in a public forum and in March, she told Capital Times reporters in a podcast interview she would "enjoy taking a fresh look at the gerrymandering question."
"They do not reflect people in this state. I don't think you could sell any reasonable person that the maps are fair," Protasiewicz, a former Milwaukee County judge, said in the January forum. "I can't tell you what I would do on a particular case, but I can tell you my values, and the maps are wrong."
Protasiewicz, who was sworn in earlier this month, has pledged to rule impartially regardless of having communicated personal beliefs during her campaign. She has also pledged to recuse herself from cases brought by or against the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, because it spent millions on getting her elected.
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