Spring Elections

Spring Elections are important

 

This Spring brings the most consequential election in recent memory.

 

Currently, conservative Republicans hold a 4-3 majority on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court. One of the conservatives, Chief Justice Patricia Roggensack, is not running for re-election. This has brought four candidates into the race to fill the open seat. Even though our judicial races are nominally non-partisan contests, the current political climate has made them anything but non-partisan.

 

The current major issues driving the Wisconsin body politic are the viability of our statutory abortion ban passed in 1849 and the GOP’s use of gerrymandered election districts to maintain power in the legislature and in the composition of Wisconsin congressional districts. Both are currently the subject of litigation which will eventually come before the Wisconsin Supreme Court. How those cases will be decided will clearly depend upon who wins the upcoming election.

 

Predictably, the four candidates who will appear on the February 21^st primary election ballot fall into one of the two political camps. There are two clear conservatives, former Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly and current Waukesha Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Dorow. There are two clear liberals, Milwaukee Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz and Dane County Circuit Judge Everett Mitchell. 

 

Both Kelly and Dorow received their law degrees from Regent University which was founded by Christian televangelist Pat Robertson. It is not a prestigious law school by any stretch and uses the Bible to guide its curriculum. Both candidates have openly embraced their religious views and maintained that they form the foundation of their legal rulings. Both took religious exceptions to U.S. Supreme Court rulings with which they disagreed in their applications to former Governor Scott Walker for for their respective appointments to the bench. Both have indicated that abortion should be illegal and that the ban on abortion should remain. Both have been endorsed by Wisconsin Right to Life. 

 

As noted in statewide media accounts, Kelly and Dorow are pulling no punches with each other. Both have endorsements from prominent GOP justices who dislike each other. Roggensack has endorsed Dorow while Justice Rebecca Bradley has endorsed Kelly. Kelly was clearly miffed when Dorow jumped into the race after presiding over the high-profile trial of Darrel Brooks. Dorow’s campaign has taken swipes at Kelly as well. 

 

Before Kelly lost his seat on the Court to Justice Jill Karofsky in 2020, he voted in favor of every position taken by the uber conservative law firm, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), after serving on its Board of Directors. His website is found at justicedanielkelly.com

 

Dorow was appointed to the bench by former Governor Scott Walker and appointed as the Chief Judge of the Third Judicial Distict by the Supreme Court in 2017. Her endorsement by Justice Roggensack who was well known as a rubber stamp for Republican positions signals that Dorow too will be a handmaiden for the GOP. 

 

In a recent debate between all the candidates, Dorow read from a prepared script and read answers from a binder while failing to answer questions completely indicating that she is not prepared to work in the rarified collegial institution of our highest court. Her website is found at judgejennifer.com

 

I knew Janet Protasiewicz many years ago when she was an Assistant District Attorney in Milwaukee County. She was fair and worked her cases ethically. Her reputation since becoming a Circuit Court Judge has been stellar. She graduated from Marquette Law School. She has gained endorsements from attorneys and judges around the state. She has been endorsed by major labor unions and progressive political organizations. She believes that Wisconsin’s legislative district maps are “rigged.” She supports a woman’s right to choose. Her website is found at janetforjustice.com

 

Dane County Circuit Judge Everett Mitchell graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School and has been active in progressive attempts to work with juveniles caught up in the legal system. He has garnered endorsements from former Governor Jim Doyle, former Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler as well as judges and attorneys around the state. He is also a minister having graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary before attending law school. He is younger than the other candidates and has less judicial experience. His website is found at judgeeverettmitchell.com

 

The February 21 primary will narrow the field from four to two who will go head to head in the April election. The choice is clear if you want justices on our Supreme Court who will bring common sense to their rulings and not be swayed by hyper-partisan agendas. I will be voting for Janet Protasiewicz.