The Wisconsin GOP is demanding a left-wing state Supreme Court justice recuse from taking up a congressional maps challenge brought by Democratic superlawyer Marc Elias over “conflict of interest” concerns.
Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz, who notably called the state’s election maps “rigged” while running last year, was endorsed on the campaign trail by activist groups that have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Elias Law Group, the firm that in January filed a redistricting lawsuit ahead of the 2024 election. To the Republican Party of Wisconsin, Protasiewicz cannot rule impartially on the motion and would be openly corrupt to “throw judicial ethics out the window on a whim for political allies.”
“It’s a clear conflict of interest,” Wisconsin GOP Chairman Brian Schimming told the Washington Examiner. “I don’t recall in my decades of watching the court being involved in state races there being a candidate who spoke to the degree she did, essentially, prejudging the case. It’s a no-brainer.”
Schimming, former director of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority under ex-Republican Gov. Scott Walker, said Protasiewicz’s failure to recuse would also show she is “bought and paid for by liberal special interests.” On Tuesday, the Washington Examiner reported that Elias Law Group pocketed more than $680,000 combined in 2023 from Emily’s List, End Citizens United, and a group tied to Family Friendly Action PAC, which all endorsed Protasiewicz that year.
Protasiewicz previously said she would “likely” recuse from any cases involving the Wisconsin Democratic Party, which poured almost $10 million into her campaign. Groups bankrolled by Democratic megadonor George Soros also spent at least $2.8 million backing Protasiewicz, records show.
The Elias congressional maps challenge, which is on behalf of four Wisconsin voters, comes on the heels of Protasiewicz refusing conservative-led calls last year to recuse from cases involving the state’s GOP-drawn legislative maps. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has a 4-3 Democratic majority and ruled the legislative maps were unconstitutional last December.
Now, frustration is boiling over among Wisconsin Republicans, who say it would be unethical for Protasiewicz to rule in connection to the Elias challenge, which faces a tight March 15 deadline for a decision from the court. Protasiewicz’s comments last year calling Wisconsin’s legislative maps “unfair” and “rigged” are disqualifying, Republicans say.
Still, the Wisconsin Judicial Commission rejected complaints in 2023 that accused her of violating ethics rules.
“She should not have said that during the campaign,” Schimming said. “I think it’s really irresponsible, and I’ve heard that from attorneys and people on both sides of the aisle in the state.”
“She basically signaled that in the court system in Wisconsin, you can go out and prejudge cases going to the highest court of review in the state and get away with it,” Schimming added. “Everyone knows what’s going on here. It’s so transparent. And it sets a really bad precedent.”
Similarly, in a press release on its website this week, the National Republican Congressional Committee called the recent report from the Washington Examiner on Protasiewicz “shocking,” asking, “Will she recuse herself?”
The NRCC’s Midwest spokesman, Mike Marinella, claimed “it’s obvious” Protasiewicz should recuse.
Tension over the Elias challenge also comes as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee particularly targets two seats in Wisconsin held by Reps. Bryan Steil (R-WI) and Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), whom the DCCC slammed for being “extremists who have enabled the out-of-touch priorities that House Republicans are pushing today.” The DCCC has paid Elias Law Group roughly $19 million since 2021, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Steil and Van Orden joined Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Glenn Grothman (R-WI), Tom Tiffany (R-WI), and Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) in late January to demand Protasiewicz recuse from ruling on the Elias challenge because of her prior “rigged” remarks.
“The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and state law demand Justice Protasiewicz’s recusal,” the members of Congress wrote in the motion, which was joined by state lawmakers and groups.
Meanwhile, Protasiewicz is facing scrutiny this week for another issue altogether.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the largest newspaper in Wisconsin, reported Tuesday that the left-wing justice’s campaign apparently used cash to insert hidden graphics in television advertisements of horses as part of an inside joke making fun of her then-opponent, Republican Dan Kelly, for looking like someone that would have sex with the animal.
“It was quite hilarious,” Alejandro Verdin, the campaign manager for Protasiewicz, said on a Jan. 25 podcast.
Kelly felt differently.
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“This goes a long way towards explaining why Janet Protasiewicz’s campaign was so dishonest, undignified and lacking in respect for the office of Supreme Court justice,” the former candidate told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“This is just sick,” Kelly said. “Wisconsinites ought to be appalled by this kind of vulgarity and vileness.”
