Wisconsin Voters Elected a Liberal Supreme Court Justice...and Voted to Impeach Her
Among the big election news on the night of Tuesday, April 4 2023 was the election of Janet Protasiewicz to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. In the unofficial election results, she won by an 11 point margin in this pivotal presidential battleground state. The victory means that liberals now have a 4-3 majority on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court, which could act on issues like abortion and redistricting.
Wisconsin voters also empowered Wisconsin’s legislature to impeach her.
Also on the ballot was a special election for vacant state Senate District 8, which the Republican candidate Dan Knodl won by a nearly 2 point margin over his opponent Jodi Habush Sinykin. Senator-elect Knodl said during a pre-election interview when asked about impeaching Protasiewicz if she were elected that, "I certainly would consider it."
Wisconsin’s constitution provides that a majority of the state Assembly — the legislature’s lower chamber — is needed to bring charges against Protasiewicz and a two-thirds majority of the state Senate is needed to convict. In the heavily gerrymandered state legislature, Wisconsin Republicans hold the requisite Assembly majority to bring charges. Knodl’s victory gives Senate Republicans the two-thirds majority needed to convict.
But there’s even more to this contradictory outcome when we look at what happened within Senate District 8.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Michael’s Newsletter to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.