Wisconsin Supreme Court justice Janet Protasiewicz announced she would not recuse herself from a future case regarding union laws in the state despite pressure from the GOP for her to do so.
Late last year, a Dane County judge overturned Act 10, a 13-year-old Wisconsin law that sharply curtailed the bargaining rights of most public employees and eroded the power of unions.
Protasiewicz, who leans liberal, rejected the request from Republican state lawmakers to recuse herself from the pending case. Before she was elected to serve on the high court, she was critical of the law enacted under former Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI).
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“I am confident that I can, in fact and appearance, act in an impartial manner in this case,” she said.
Protasiewicz was elected in 2023 and gave liberals their first majority of the court in 15 years. During her campaign, she ran on overturning the controversial law, which put Walker and Wisconsin in the national spotlight as union members remained at the Wisconsin State Capitol for weeks in protest.
She told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel during her campaign that she would consider recusing herself from any case challenging the law. Protasiewicz had participated in the protests against Act 10, later signing the petition to recall Walker.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, both Republicans, were vocal about their desire for Protasiewicz to step aside from the case. Vos has suggested state lawmakers could consider impeaching Protasiewicz if she did not recuse herself.
“The idea that we’re going to immediately start an impeachment process is probably too radical,” Vos told the conservative WSAU Radio in 2023. “I want to look and see, does she recuse herself on cases where she is prejudged? That to me is something that is at the oath of office and what she said she was going to do to uphold the Constitution. That, to me, is a serious offense.”
Conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn removed himself from the case as he was one of the authors on Walker’s law at the time of its passage.
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Her decision came at the same time the Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to hear the case before it went through the lower appeals court. This means the case will not be heard before the state’s April 1, in which the ideological leaning of the court could shift again.
Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, a liberal, will face former Wisconsin Attorney General conservative Brad Schimel after liberal-leaning Justice Ann Walsh Bradley announced in 2024 that she would step down from the state’s high court. The 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court race was the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history and the 2025 race is already rapidly growing in donations.