Janet Protasiewicz may have just won a seat on the Wisconsin state Supreme Court, flipping the ideological balance of the court to the bench’s liberal bloc for the first time in 15 years.
But if a newly elected Republican state senator gets his way, that could all come crashing down.
A GOP win in another Wisconsin race this week — the state Senate’s 8th District — gave Republicans a supermajority in the chamber. With that power, Republicans there will have the ability to pursue removal proceedings of certain elected officials if the Assembly votes to impeach them.
In the closing days of his campaign, Republican Assemblyman Dan Knodl, who won that exurban state Senate district outside Milwaukee, said that he would consider impeaching Protasiewicz from her current position as a judge on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court.
Now, with Protasiewicz’s victory Tuesday, the comments quickly spurred concerns among Democrats in the state that Republicans in the Legislature would make a move against Protasiewicz’s seat in the Supreme Court.
In an interview last week with WISN-TV, Knodl said that a Republican supermajority in the state Senate would give the party “more authority in the areas of oversight and accountability of elected officials and appointed officials.”
“If there are some that are out there that are corrupt, that are failing at their tasks, then we have the opportunity to hold them accountable … up to impeachment,” Knodl said.
“Janet Protasiewicz is a Circuit Court judge right now in Milwaukee, and she has failed,” he continued. Asked whether he “would support impeaching her,” Knodl replied, “I certainly would consider it.”
It remains unclear whether Knodl was referring only to her position on the Milwaukee Circuit Court, or whether he would also consider impeaching her if she won the Supreme Court race.