Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Wisconsin GOP Leader Takes Major Step Toward Impeaching Liberal Supreme Court Justice

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Wisconsin’s Republican State Assembly Speaker announced Wednesday that he has created a panel to review the criteria for impeachment of a liberal state Supreme Court justice.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has chosen three former Wisconsin Supreme Court justices for the panel, but refuses to name them until the panel completes their work. The panel is looking into Justice Janet Protasiewicz over comments she made about the state’s Republican redistricting maps and the money she received from the Democratic Party, The Associated Press reports.

During her campaign Protasiewicz made comments about current maps being “rigged” and received nearly $10 million from the Wisconsin Democratic Party.

Vos created the panel after state Republicans introduced Assembly Bill 415 on Tuesday, which would see new maps drawn by nonpartisan legislative staff and approved by the Republican-dominated Legislature for 2024, according to the AP.

The supporters have criticized the bill because it allows Legislature to create maps if those drawn by the nonpartisan employees have been rejected twice. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said he would veto the bill, the AP reports.

“I’m still optimistic the maps we have are totally legit,” Vos told WISN 12 News. “I think Justice Protasiewicz should recuse herself because she has biased herself in the process.”

Protasiewicz’s win in the May election gave the liberals the majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court for the first time in 15 years. Liberal justices quickly made changes within the court causing Chief Justice Annette Ziegler to accuse the court’s liberal majority of staging a “coup.”

Vos’, Evers’ and Protasiewicz’s offices did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.