“This is completely unethical and cannot be condoned. As a result of her statements, there is no way Judge Protasiewicz can impartially participate in any future case involving Wisconsin’s current legislative maps or any legal challenge involving abortion law.”
There’s now a formal complaint over how one of the liberal candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court is campaigning. A western Wisconsin man, Randall Cook, filed the complaint Monday.
He said Judge Janet Protasiewicz has violated the state’s Code of Judicial Conduct by talking openly about how she’d rule on cases that will likely come before the Supreme Court. Specifically, the complaint says Protasiewicz has called Wisconsin’s political maps “rigged,” and has said she supports abortion and same-sex marriage laws.
As Wisconsin Right Now previously reported, she also called Act 10 unconstitutional.
“Put simply Judge Protasiewicz is promising her vote on certain cases as a way to win over voters,” Cook said in his complaint. “This is completely unethical and cannot be condoned. As a result of her statements, there is no way Judge Protasiewicz can impartially participate in any future case involving Wisconsin’s current legislative maps or any legal challenge involving abortion law.”
Candidates for the court are not supposed to tip their hand about how they may rule.
Cook added that not only are Protasiewicz’s comments wrong, but they also hurt the reputation of the court itself.
“It is inappropriate for lower court judges to criticize judicial decisions of higher court judges. Such comments are out-of-bounds and undermine the public’s confidence in the judiciary,” Cook wrote.
Wisconsin’s Republican Party said the court should, at the very least, order Protasiewicz to recuse herself from any case that she’s talked about during the campaign.
“Janet Protasiewicz has decided to disregard her obligation to abide by the Code of Judicial Conduct in her pursuit of a place on the Supreme Court. The Judicial Commission must act and Protasiewicz clearly must recuse herself from participating in cases involving redistricting, abortion and Act 10 union reforms because she’s absolutely unwilling to hear them with an open mind,” Republican Party of Wisconsin Executive Director Mark Jefferson said. “A high court candidate has never taken such an extreme stand in defiance of her responsibility to remain unbiased or set aside her personal beliefs on cases set to come before the Court, and Wisconsin deserves much better than the liberal personal agenda of Janet Protasiewicz.”
Judge Janet Protasiewicz Complaint:
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