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() — Wisconsin voters have elected a new state Supreme Court justice, shifting the balance of the court from conservative to liberal.
Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz became the latest justice, being elected to a 10-year term. Her win will likely land her in the middle of lawsuits over key issues, as the state’s Democratic governor and GOP-controlled legislature are at odds.
Protasiewicz made abortion rights a central issue in her campaign, as a case regarding the state’s contested abortion ban, written in 1849, is expected to make its way to the Wisconsin high court.
Wisconsin’s ban includes only a vague exception for the life of the mother. The Republican-controlled legislature has floated the idea of passing an updated law that adds exceptions for rape and incest. But Tony Evers, the state’s Democratic governor, has said he will veto any legislation that continues to ban abortion.
At the same time, the state’s Democratic attorney general filed a lawsuit saying the 1849 law was effectively overturned when the legislature passed additional laws regulating abortion during the Roe v. Wade years. The case is likely to eventually make its way to the state Supreme Court.
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Abortion isn’t the only issue likely to come before the court, as Democrats seek to challenge policies enacted by a legislature that has been dominated by Republicans for the past decade. Republican-drawn state voting maps, right-to-work laws, voting restrictions, private school vouchers and a limit on collective bargaining for public employees are all likely to be challenged with the shift in the court.
The state Supreme Court upheld Republican-drawn maps in 2022. Those maps, widely regarded as among the most gerrymandered in the country, have helped Republicans increase their hold on the state Legislature to near supermajority levels, even as Democrats have won statewide elections, Evers as governor in both 2018 and 2022 and President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race.
More than $42.3 million was spent on the Supreme Court race, breaking by a generous margin the previous records for spending on a state judicial race. That includes out-of-state contributions, with the expectation that Wisconsin could once again be a key swing state in the 2024 election.
Four of the past six presidential elections in Wisconsin have been decided by less than a percentage point and former President Donald Trump turned to the courts in 2020 in his unsuccessful push to overturn his roughly 21,000-vote loss in the state. The current court, under a 4-3 conservative majority, came within one vote of overturning Biden’s 2020 win in the state, and both major parties are preparing for another close race in 2024.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
