Conservatives urge newest Wisconsin Supreme Court justice to recuse herself from redistricting case

A conservative legal group as well as other prominent Republicans are urging Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz to recuse herself from ruling on a case involving congressional maps after she made disparaging remarks about them. 

The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty is also joining prominent Wisconsin Republicans, including U.S. Reps. Bryan Steil, Mike Gallagher, Glenn Grothman, Tom Tiffany and Scott Fitzgerald, in asking Protasiewicz to recuse herself from the case.

The filing asking for her recusal states that Protasiewicz's campaign received nearly $10 million from the Wisconsin Democratic Party and that she previously said Wisconsin's congressional maps were "rigged" to support Republicans. 

"Wisconsin’s current congressional map was proposed by Governor Evers and adopted by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2022. Any attempt to revisit this ruling and once again alter Wisconsin’s Congressional districts, is both procedurally improper and legally wrong," Wisconsin Institute Deputy Counsel Lucas Vebber said after his group filed a request to the court Monday. 

The request comes after the state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 last month that the maps violate the state constitution. Democratic voters had filed that case the same day that Protasiewicz was sworn in and flipped the court from conservative to liberal.

The court, including Protasiewicz, did not issue a ruling last month on claims that the map benefited Republicans but gave the responsibility for redrawing the maps over to the Wisconsin legislature with a deadline as early as April 15, according to Legal News Line. In the meantime, the various groups and officials are able to file proposals for the new map. 

Attorney Mark Elias, who performed work on behalf of both the Biden and Clinton presidential campaigns, represented Wisconsin voters earlier this month in a filing asking the court to select a map that follows their proposed guidelines.  

The conservative legal institute is urging the court to follow the "least change" precedent set by the court in 2022. This would be accomplished by a map that would move less than 5,000 people into new voting districts, the group says. 

Additionally, if Protasiewicz recuses herself, then Republicans may have a greater chance of having the state high court reach a decision that would be more favorable to them. 

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