Justice Janet Protasiewicz’s swearing-in ceremony as the latest judge on the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday marked a big achievement for Wisconsin Democrats — the state Supreme Court flipped to Democratic control for the first time in 15 years.
Protasiewicz, who focused her election campaign on abortion rights and criticizing the Republican-drawn redistricting maps, put an end to the conservative hold on the court. She is replacing retiring conservative Justice Pat Roggensack, who served on the court for 20 years, including six as chief justice. A Wisconsin Supreme Court justice’s term is 10 years.
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“We all want a Wisconsin where our freedoms are protected,” Protasiewicz said at the ceremony. “We want a Wisconsin with a fair and impartial Supreme Court. We all want to live in communities that are safe. And we all want a Wisconsin where everyone is afforded equal justice under the law.”
Under conservative leadership, the court came one vote shy of overturning President Joe Biden’s slim victory in the state in 2020. However, Biden would have still had enough electoral college votes to secure the election without Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes.
Challenges to the state’s abortion ban, Republican-drawn congressional district maps, and a battle over voting rules are expected to occur heading into the 2024 election cycle. One case that is challenging a pre-Civil War era abortion ban is already pending in the court, and a new lawsuit challenging the Republican-drawn congressional district maps is expected to be filed in the coming weeks.
Protasiewicz, a former circuit court judge, defeated her conservative opponent Dan Kelly in April. She previously spent 25 years as a prosecutor in the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office.
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“All of those long hours led to an incredible opportunity to see our judicial system up close, and it allowed me to see what I believe is universal,” Protasiewicz said Tuesday. “And that is everyone should get a fair shot to demand justice and not feel like the thumb is on the scale against them.”
Although the court is officially considered nonpartisan, the three other “liberal” justices on the court consist of Justices Ann Walsh Bradley, Rebecca Dallet, and Jill Karofsky.
