Impeachment of Wisconsin Justice Over Redistricting 'Super Unlikely,' Says GOP Leader

Justice Janet Protasiewicz, who refused to recuse herself from redistricting lawsuits, remains on the bench as the state Supreme Court prepares to rule on the cases.

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who once threatened to impeach Wisconsin’s new liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz if she did not recuse herself from cases that could result in the court tossing GOP-drawn legislative maps, now calls that prospect “super unlikely.”
Republicans have discussed impeaching the justice for months after liberal groups filed redistricting lawsuits within a day of Protasiewicz’s swearing-in in August.
Protasiewicz’s seat flipped the long-standing conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court for the first time in 15 years, and the state’s highest court now holds a 4-3 Democratic majority.
State Republicans filed a motion seeking to remove Protasiewicz from the two lawsuits weeks after she was sworn in. In October, Protasiewicz said she would not recuse herself from hearing the lawsuits.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in November in the lawsuit, filed on Aug. 2 by Law Forward, a coalition of law firms and voting rights advocacy groups. They asked all 132 state lawmakers to be up for election, including those not slated to be on the 2024 ballot — and the highest court is expected to make a ruling soon.