CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – When candidate Janet Protasiewicz campaigned by openly saying how she’d rule on cases that are likely coming before the court, she accomplished two things. First, she gathered in all of the votes of women who cared only about the right to choose. She would be their champion to overturn Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban. It was a winning, albeit an unethical, strategy. Second, she signaled to other activist groups that she’s ready to overturn settled law – if they would only bring her the right cases.
Wisconsin’s political maps are settled. The state supreme court ruled earlier that their only task was to make sure that each district had roughly the same number of voters. That’s the only thing that the state and federal constitutions require. Delving into the political make-up of each district would be a misadventure. People move. Their political preferences change. A map that favors one party today may not be so favorable tomorrow.
But Judge Janet campaigned saying she believes Wisconsin’s maps are rigged. Her signal to activists: File a lawsuit. When it gets to my bench, I’ll give you the result you want. No matter that our current maps were used in the fall 2022 election.
What other cases are coming to Judge Janet’s court: Challenges to Act 10, to concealed carry, and school choice. All of these were enacted by acts of the state legislature. The Protasiewicz court sees itself as a super-legislature in black robes, delivering to her liberal voters things that could not be passed through the state assembly, the state senate, and then signed by the governor.
Chris Conley
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