As Wisconsin Republicans hurtle forward with potentially impeaching Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz before she's even issued a single ruling, a former Wisconsin justice appointed by a Republican governor is calling foul.
In an editorial published by the Wisconsin State Journal, former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske, who was appointed by one-time Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson, joined with fellow former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler to argue that the Wisconsin GOP has no basis for impeaching Protasiewicz.
In fact, the two jurists make clear that "impeaching a justice for following the rules that govern her conduct is an attack on the very independence of the court and violates the separation of powers."
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In particular, Geske and Butler argue that the only legitimate basis for impeaching a justice on the state Supreme Court is for "corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes and misdemeanors," neither of which can credibly apply to anything that Protasiewicz has done.
They then zero in on accusations that Protasiewicz engaged in purportedly corrupt behavior when she said during a campaign speech that she believed Wisconsin's gerrymandered election maps needed to be reexamined.
"The justice was not in office when any campaign speech was made, and her campaign speech is therefore not 'conduct in office,'" they argue. "Second, in other similar contexts, the U.S. Supreme Court has already held that this type of campaign speech is protected speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in judicial elections."
Were Wisconsin Republicans' ploy to impeach Protasiewicz succeed, the jurists conclude, it would end up "chilling a justice’s ability to make the very decision that justice was elected to make."