“Anything is up for grabs if Janet Protasiewicz wins.”
Ty Bodden is the Wisconsin state representative for District 59, and he believes the race for the Dairy State’s open Supreme Court judgeship is the most important race in America this year. With conservative Justice Patience Roggensack retiring, Wisconsin’s political majority hangs in the balance. The race is between leftist Janet Protasiewicz and conservative Daniel Kelly.
Bodden is not alone in his assessment. The New York Times has dubbed the race “the most consequential American election on the 2023 calendar.” The Guardian considers the race “2023’s key election.” Ben Wikler, chair of the state Democratic Party, told Politico that the race “is the hinge on which Wisconsin’s political future will swing. And Wisconsin is the hinge on which national politics swings.”
Despite the justice race being officially nonpartisan, the ideological lines are as defined as the taste of craft Wisconsin cheese. The stakes are high, with abortion laws, election laws, and legislative maps on the line. Protasiewicz (pronounced pro-tuh-SAY-witz) is a Milwaukee County circuit judge endorsed by the Democratic abortion rights group Emily’s List. One of her TV advertisements featured her talking directly to the camera, saying, “I believe in a woman’s freedom to make her own decision on abortion.” Kelly, however, touts himself as a constitutional conservative. Wisconsin’s pro-life groups endorse him, and he’s said he has no intention of revisiting the legislative maps adopted by Republican legislators.
Wisconsin’s legislative maps are a major point of contention. Establishment media and Democrats consider Wisconsin one of the most gerrymandered states. If Protasiewicz wins, Democrats will likely redraw the legislative map and propel the matter to the state’s Supreme Court, where it will probably be approved. Redistricting will almost certainly result in Republicans losing control of the state Legislature. Furthermore, redistricting Wisconsin’s legislative map will favor Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
This explains why Democrats and Republicans have already poured an astounding $18 million into this race. “This year’s race for a seat on the state Supreme Court has already shattered national records,” reported Molly Beck for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on March 1.
Wisconsin is perhaps the most reliable of swing states. It went for Donald Trump in 2016, and — purportedly — for Joe Biden in 2020. Before electing Democrat Tony Evers as governor — twice — Wisconsinites elected Republican Scott Walker, twice. Wisconsin voters are as politically different as red and blue. The liberal bastions of Madison and the state’s largest city, Milwaukee, are deep blue — so blue they bleed socialist red. In the 20th century, Milwaukee had three socialist mayors. “For much of the 20th century, Milwaukee was run by socialists,” exclaimed uber-left magazine The Nation in an April 2, 2019 article titled “When Socialism Was Tried in America — and Was a Smashing Success.” The rest of the state, aside from a few small blue splotches, is as red as any American red state. Outside of Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin could be mistaken for Alabama, the saying goes. The fertile Wisconsin countryside is lined with agricultural operations as far as the eye can see. Small farms, big farms, dairy farms, corn farms, sheep farms. This is a state that has nearly 700,000 registered hunters, more than any other U.S. state except Pennsylvania. It’s a state with billboards along the highway opposing abortion and flashing Bible verses, a state peppered with Trump 2020 signs left up by rural citizens making a statement on the real outcome of that contentious race.
So what happens if Protasiewicz wins? State legislator Bodden paints a grim picture. The tipping of the state’s Supreme Court could turn Wisconsin into Oregon or Washington, where conservative voices and values are drowned out by the anti-American and degenerate values of the Left occupying the state’s urban areas.
If the engineers of medical tyranny roll out another Covid-like campaign, with the Legislature and governorship in leftist hands, all Wisconsinites would be subject to lockdowns, masking, and gathering restrictions. Schools would be shut down, and local school districts would be faced with vaccine mandates. Speaking of, since the Left has no respect for medical freedom, there is no telling what sort of mandates Wisconsinites could face if Democrats take over with confidence in a favorable court, Bodden speculates. Regarding elections, ballot drop boxes, ruled unconstitutional by the current Supreme Court, would likely come back. Voter ID, which was passed by the GOP Legislature, will likely be thrown out as unconstitutional.
“Any case could emerge,” Bodden said. “It is only limited by your imagination.” The Wisconsin Constitution favors religious liberty, a matter that could be reinterpreted by a leftist court, he added. The “gender” insanity plaguing other blue states could affect all Wisconsinites.
Bodden took Governor Evers’ proposed budget for 2023-2025 as a warning of what could happen with a Democratic Legislature and a leftist Supreme Court. The budget is higher by 18 percent; it turns a $2.8 billion positive structural balance into a $1.4 billion deficit; it expands welfare; it creates a state-based health-insurance marketplace; it includes resident tuition and driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants; it creates firearm red flag laws, etc., etc.
Anything is up for grabs if Janet Protasiewicz is elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court on April 4.
