Hello everyone, Ben Cominos here.
I’ve been talking about the state of the Wisconsin Supreme Court just about everyday this week, and yet somehow, I still have so much more to say.
While I’m sure the times we find ourselves in are in no way unprecedented, they sure are strange. For those that have decided to maintain their sanity and ignore the political nonsense that infiltrating our judicial process, allow me to quickly catch you up.
Justice Janet Protasiewicz won a Supreme Court seat in April of this year with a massive victory by Wisconsin standards: 11 points. She was sworn into her position on August 1st, and since then, has dealt with nothing, but threats of impeachment. Before even hearing a case mind you.
The claims from the Republican legislature being that she had predetermined the outcome of a question concerning the fairness of Wisconsin’s voting maps. Not only that, but she also took donations specifically from the Democratic party, which has caused some to question her impartiality.
Outside of the concerns about Justice Protasiewicz, conservative Justices have also done the rounds on right-wing media talking about the unprecedented “power grab” that we are seeing in the courts right now.
Now, anyone who listens to my program knows that I am not a fan of money in any elections; judicial, political, reality show, etc. I’m not here to try and convince anyone reading that she did not tip her hand as to how she would rule on the matter. And I’m not here to defend some of the moves that the liberal Justices have made. What I AM here to ask is, why are we pretending that she and the Democrats are the only entities operating this way?
Let’s take these claims one at a time, shall we?
Justice Protasiewicz received 10 million dollars from the Democratic Party during her campaign, which Republicans consistently highlight. What they seem to leave out is that her opponent received 25% of the money for his campaign from the Republican party.
Now, before you start sending me emails saying, “But Ben, he only received $500,000 from the Republican party” allow me to preemptively retort. Are you telling me then, it’s not the fact that political dollars have entered the judicial arena, but it’s just the discrepancy in numbers? If the best argument here is “Oh, I’m not mad about the principle of what’s happening, I’m just haggling over the price”, then I’m sorry, but this is not an impeachable offense.
Second, we must address the claims that she pre-judged a case. Here is the quote that people reference when they say she “pre-judged” the maps:
“This is where I say democracy’s on the line. You look at what’s happening in our state. You look at what the Republicans did with the redistricting. You look at the fact that the maps were — 10 years ago — a problem,” said Protasiewicz. “I would say that the maps are a bigger problem. You’ll hear people argue that the Republicans used very, very sophisticated computer technology to draw those maps and to draw those maps in a way that are absolutely the most favorable to them. So that’s when I say, yes, those maps are rigged.”
I’d argue that pretty cut and dry that she did have some preconceived notions about the maps. Here’s the kicker though, all she did, was paraphrase something that was said by the Speaker of the Legislature, Robin Vos, had already said.
“It’s clearly a constitutional allowance… Yes, was partisanship considered as a consideration on the map? Yes.”
So, in other words, impeachment for Justice Protasiewicz is being considered for using her eyes looking at the maps, and her ears listening to the people who drew the maps talking about them. Again, it might be frustrating not impeachable.
Not to mention, here’s a excerpt from a wispolitics.com article breaking down a Dan Kelly interview:
In the interview, Clarke asked Dan Kelly if would be a trustworthy judge for right-wing voters and rule in favor of their stances on workers’ rights, gerrymandering, and gun safety laws. Clarke even took it a step further by stating right wing supporters don’t want to “end up with another [Brian] Hagedorn.” Dan Kelly reassured him stating, “I don’t think you have to worry about that with me.”
My point being, this isn’t a one sided issue.
Lastly, the media tour the Republican Justices have been on has been nothing short of shameless. As someone who has barely lived in Wisconsin a year, it did not take long for me to learn that while the liberal majority’s creation of a new commission to dilute the power of the Chief Justice is questionable, it is no more or less questionable than the conservatize Justices changing the criteria from a matter of seniority to a matter of majority vote.
The brazen hypocrisy at times, is astounding.
So now we find ourselves running around in circles where there’s reporting that the Wisconsin Legislature will impeach Justice Protasiewicz, but the Wisconsin Senate will not convict, thus leaving the Supreme Court in limbo and ignoring the will of Wisconsin’s voters. Then Democrats retort with the idea that she could resign after 12/2 and Governor Evers could appoint a new Justice that will rule the exact same way Protasiewicz would. Of course, if she resigned before 12/2, then we’d have to have another election because everything is made up and nothing makes sense.
I’ll leave you with this: Democrats, if you’re pretending she clearly doesn’t have partisan intentions, you’re not doing yourselves any favors. Republicans, if you’re pretending that the courts were not biased before Justice Protasiewicz’s arrival, that’s a laughable assertion.
The people of Wisconsin have spoken on this issue, and it’s my opinion that we honor the will of the people, and to anyone upset by the way the court is ruling, I promise, another election is right around the corner.
[madison.com][wispolitics.com]
