As reported a few days ago, the Wisconsin GQP mafia is trying to strong arm newly seated Justice Janet Protasiewicz into recusing herself from two cases before the state supreme court regarding their gerrymandered district maps. The GQP syndicate is claiming that Protasiewicz had prejudged the cases because she commented that it was obviously the maps were rigged.
Their argument suffered a severe blow when Justice Protasiewicz released a letter to Associated Press that she received from the Wisconsin Judicial Commission notifying her that they had dismissed several complaints they had received regarding this:
The letter, signed by Judicial Commission executive director Jeremiah C. Van Hecke, does not contain details about the complaints or the panel's deliberations. It notes that commissioners considered a number of factors including the comments in question, the state's Code of Judicial Conduct and several previous court rulings.
Those cases included findings that restricting a judicial candidate's speech during a campaign violates the First Amendment and that sharing one's personal views does not necessarily constitute a promise, pledge or commitment to rule a certain way.
