Robin Vos is potentially on the verge of launching his second legislative coup, this time against the courts: an impeachment of Justice Janet before she has heard a single case. Wisconsin has not seen someone this divisive, cowardly, and power-hungry prior to the election of Scott Walker. This is a man who does not care for democracy-only his power, actively thwarting the Will of the People.
Photo credit: WISN
Robin Vos’s first legislative coup was in 2018, before Governor-elect Tony Evers and Attorney General-elect Josh Kaul were sworn into office. Colluding with outgoing Governor Scott Walker, Vos pushed through some of the most expansive and naked power grabs:
forbidding the Attorney General from withdrawing from a lawsuit without the consent of the Legislature
This forced incoming AG Kaul to continue to be a part of a multi-state suit to strike down the Affordable Care Act
limited early voting to two weeks
This was specifically targeted to impact voters of color in Milwaukee the hardest, the same as the controversial Voter ID law. Early voting was six weeks prior to this law.
confirmed 80 Walker administrative appointees, most without a hearting, ensuring Governor Evers could not fill those positions
stripped the Governor’s ability to renegotiate subsidy rules for companies, like Foxconn
enshrined more restrictive work requirements for Medicaid and food stamps into law
While these efforts are part of the Republican playbook where they lose elections across the country, Wisconsin’s Republicans have gone further to erode democracy than any other state in the country, but this is a trend especially across the Midwest. The message is clear: they don’t give a damn about the results of elections. Aided and abetted by a right-wing State Supreme Court, these antidemocratic measures remained in place in the Badger State.
Photo credit: AP
In April, Wisconsinites delivered Janet Protasiewicz a clear mandate. Her campaign centered around abortion and fair maps, to which the voters responded in an 11-point landslide. The voters of my under siege home state felt, for once, that their voice had been heard.
On August 2nd, 2023, a day after Justice Janet was invested as a justice of the Wisconsin State Supreme Court, the legal group Law Forward filed a suit challenging the redistricting maps of 2021. They contend that the incredible degree of Wisconsin Republicans’ gerrymander is so blatant and far-reaching that elections are exceptionally meaningless and with federal court relief shut off, the only remedy is Wisconsin’s own judicial system.
Almost immediately after the suit was filed, Republicans demanded Justice Janet recuse herself, claiming that she had already decided the case. A complaint was filed with Wisconsin’s Judicial Commission, one of the few ways an individual can attempt to directly challenge a Supreme Court Justice, who dismissed the complaint without any action.
Vos took this opportunity to give his implicit support for impeachment, saying, “The Judicial Commission decided Justice Protasiewicz could not be sanctioned for what she said on the campaign trail. The Commission did not address whether she can sit on a case after accepting $10 million in campaign funds from the Democrat Party — the interested party in the redistricting case. Nor did they address whether she may sit on a case having made commitments for how she would rule that are inconsistent with the obligation to be impartial.”
The moral bankruptcy here is breathtaking. In elections, even nonpartisan judicial elections, judges have to speak on issues that voters and the state face. If Vos was so upset about candidates speaking out on issues, he would have brought these same complaints against literally any other justice or judicial candidate at any other time in the past. It is only when the State Supreme Court is flipping from conservative to liberal that all of a sudden a candidate’s opinions threaten the constitutional order.
Photo credit: AP
If you’d like a wider view and more background information, check out Dan Shafer’s piece on this, too. He gives much more context and is the best in the business for Wisconsin politics. If you haven’t subscribed, take the opportunity to do so.
In Wisconsin, the impeachment process works the same way as it does at the Federal level: a majority in the State Assembly must vote on articles of impeachment, then two-thirds of the State Senate must vote to convict. Only one State Supreme Court justice has ever been impeached, but the State Senate did not convict. The Republicans have 22 of the 33 State Senators, but I would be very skeptical that all 22 remain in lockstep.
Should Justice Janet actually be impeached and removed after December 1st, Governor Evers would have the opportunity to appoint someone to fill the rest of her term. That, however, is not the nightmare scenario. The nightmare scenario would have her be impeached, but have no trial take place.
Under such a scenario, Protasiewicz could not take any part on any legal proceeding, but Governor Evers would not get to appoint a replacement. Another election would take place under these maps, which might give the Republicans a two-thirds majority in both houses, rendering the Governor a figurehead.
The Wisconsin Republican Party is not serious about democracy, let alone governing. Their fear of facing accountability at the ballot box and determinedly undermining the Will of the People shows power preservation is their only concern. There is no “both sides” here-you either stand with Vos and elected Republicans or with democracy.