The tenuous grip on democracy in Wisconsin was recently strengthened by the election of progressive Judge Janet Protasiewicz, tipping the balance on the Wisconsin Supreme Court to progressives for the first time in decades. The Wisconsin Republican Party is one of the most far- right in a far- right national party (think QAnon/ coup friendly Sen. Ron "Tiny" Johnson) and has long held an authoritarian stranglehold on redistricting with the help of a highly partisan Republican Court. Now that the tables are turned, one powerful Republican thinks they need to change the game:
If Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz does not recuse from lawsuits challenging the state’s legislative boundaries, Republicans who control the state Legislature might consider impeachment proceedings, the Assembly’s top Republican said Friday.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican from Rochester, said in an interview on WSAU he does not believe impeachment should be considered lightly by lawmakers. But he said the idea could move forward if Protasiewicz does not recuse herself on cases he said she “prejudged” during her campaign for a seat on the state’s highest court.
“If there’s any semblance of honor on the state Supreme Court left, you cannot have a person who runs for the court prejudging a case and being open about it, and then acting on the case as if you’re an impartial observer,” Vos told conservative WSAU host Meg Ellefson when asked whether the Legislature could successfully defend the current boundaries with a liberal-controlled state Supreme Court.
“You cannot have a judge who said, you know, the maps are rigged because she bought into the argument that that’s why we’re winning elections, not the quality of our candidates, and then she sits on that trial acting like she’s gonna listen and hear both sides fairly − that just can’t happen.”... (our emphasis)
We'll see about that, cheesehead. This rancid bum talks about "honor." He hasn't even a passing relationship with the concept.
Vos is acting as though the State's current legislative districts are just fine. As presently configured, they're most certainly not:
The new maps, drawn by the Wisconsin State Legislature, are considered the most partisan-biased, court-adopted maps in the nation. That’s according to a new analysis from the University of Wisconsin Law School. The maps heavily advantage Republican politicians, all but guaranteeing Republican-rule in the state Legislature, regardless of what most voters want.
The analysis looked at four metrics: partisan-bias, efficiency gap, mean-median difference and declination.
"On every one of these standard partisan fairness metrics, these new maps are the worst, court-adopted maps that we’ve seen anywhere in the country," says Rob Yablon, an associate professor at the law school, who published the analysis.
The analysis finds that Wisconsin's state legislative maps have substantially higher levels of partisan inequity than other court-adopted maps, with a score three to five times worse on each metric. The inequity in these maps means that despite Republicans and Democrats getting approximately the same number of votes statewide, Republican politicians will likely continue to control the vast majority of seats in the Wisconsin state Legislature.
The maps are the result of intense gerrymandering on the part of the Wisconsin Legislature by "cracking and packing" districts, effectively subverting a voter's ability to choose their representation based on partisan affiliation. (our emphasis)
There's the rigging Vos was concerned about. How's that for "honor," Republican- style?!
It's highly unlikely Protasiewicz will "recuse" herself on an issue as existential to democracy as voting rights and fair elections. The four progressives in the majority have been moving swiftly to undo the damage done by the Republican pols on the Court over the past few decades, and don't seem to be bothered by reactions from the reactionaries. We have to wait and see if Vos carries through on his threat, and how the Court and progressives react if he does.
