From the Green Lake County Dems and Friends
Save the Date: Primary Election, February 21
Remember: Janet Protasiewicz OR Everett Mitchell
How might Protasiewicz, Mitchell, Dorow or Kelly rule on key issues coming before the Wisconsin Supreme Court?
Four candidates for Wisconsin State Supreme Court, Judge Janet Protasiewicz, Judge Everett Mitchell, Judge Jennifer Dorow and former Justice Dan Kelly were introduced in the last Dems column.
Each candidate claims they will be fair and impartial in their rulings despite their political or personal views. Do their previous comments and actions support this?
A major concern for Wisconsinites is Wisconsin’s 1849 Abortion Law criminalizing abortion. This case is expected to come before the court. Wisconsinites support women having the right to make their own healthcare decisions including reproductive choice. In the September 2022 Marquette Law School poll 68% of Wisconsinites support abortion in all or most cases. In a Spectrum News/ Siena College poll 72% say the 1849 law banning abortion should be replaced. The GOP-dominated legislature is out of touch with Wisconsinites concerning the right to make personal health care decisions with their doctors.
At a January candidate forum, the question of reproductive rights was not asked. Instead the candidates responded to a question about the worst Supreme Court ruling in the last 30 years.
Both Judge Protasiewicz and Judge Mitchell said the overturning of Roe v. Wade reversed decades of precedent guaranteeing abortion rights.
Neither Judge Dorow nor Kelly mentioned Roe v. Wade. Neither have taken a stand on women’s rights. Dorow skirts issues by saying she “would follow the law regardless of whether she liked it.”
The Wisconsin District maps drawn by the Republican legislature are more gerrymandered than the 2011 maps. They give the Republicans even more control in the state legislature. The court is expected to take up the District Maps again. If the court has an ideological shift perhaps the court will rule on fair maps instead of the current maps skewed to favor the Republican party.
Protasiewicz says that the current maps do not fairly represent the state’s voters. Mitchell says that democracy is at stake and district maps should be drawn in a fair, nonpartisan way.
Dorow’s response to the recent redistricting process was “interesting”. She again does not take a stand. Kelly calls redistricting political from start to finish. He says the constitution states that maps must be contiguous and compact. Contiguous they may be, but compact they are not. Look at the maps. That maps are drawn to favor Republicans does not concern him. Only a Republican can win in Green Lake County. The Republican maps made the decision for us.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court could also rule on voting rights cases and weigh in on the 2024 presidential election. Joe Biden won Wisconsin in 2020. The courts determined there was no evidence of voter fraud. Michael Gableman was hired by Republican Assembly Leader Vos (and later fired by Vos) to conduct a review of the election fraud claims. Gableman’s investigation which cost millions of taxpayer money turned up no evidence of voter fraud. Both Dorow and Kelly in a Republican event in December stated that they support legislative investigations like Michael Gableman’s. They also support lawsuits by right – wing groups trying to make voting more difficult.
A member of the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) pushed for plaintiffs to bring issues to the courts to influence state policy towards their conservative values. Dorow supports this as well as supports “voter integrity”, the Republican code for voter suppression. Will was successful in a lawsuit banning ballot drop boxes.
Neither Protasiewicz nor Mitchell support bogus election fraud claims or voter suppression laws.
We must elect a new Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice to restore trust and integrity to the court. The conservative candidates Dorow and Kelly appear to support the court being the judicial wing of the Republican party.
Either Protasiewicz or Mitchell will bring back integrity and fairness to the court.
Your vote counts. We need a fair independent court again.