Judge Janet Protasiewicz (pronounced pro-tuh-say-witz), who has been presiding at the Milwaukee County Circuit Court since 2014, won the primary in the race for an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court Tuesday.

The liberal candidate is now on the ballot for the general election on April 4, in which she will face conservative Daniel Kelly to win the seat left open after conservative Justice Patience Roggensack announced her retirement.

Protasiewicz addressed the voters after whizzing through the primary.

"I am absolutely honored that the people of this state have chosen me as one of the two candidates to move forward in April," she said. "And because of you, this campaign is the highest vote-getter of all the other candidates. I am counting on all of you, each and every one of you to continue the momentum, all the way through April 4 because there is too much at stake, way too much at stake for us to stop for even a moment."

Protasiewicz received 445,196 votes, which made up 46.4% of the votes cast. Kelly, on the other hand, got only 232,299 votes or 24.2% of the total votes.

Who Is Janet Protasiewicz?

Protasiewicz is a 35-year veteran of the law. Before being elected to the bench, she spent 25 years as the assistant district attorney. Protasiewicz graduated from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee in 1985, after which she sought an education in law at Marquette University and became an adjunct professor of law at the institution.

In her speech Tuesday night, Protasiewicz said, "I have dedicated my entire career to public service. My only client has ever been the State of Wisconsin."

She later added that she believes in "fairness for all."

"I can promise you I will always make decisions based on the law, never on partisan extreme beliefs. I can assure you that as a member of our Supreme Court I will always be fair and impartial," she said further.

Protasiewicz, who reportedly supports abortion rights, then said she values "a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive health care decisions with her doctor, family and faith," adding that she also puts importance on democracy and believes "every Wisconsinite deserves to be fairly represented."

"I will guarantee you, that my opponent if elected, will uphold the 1849 near-total abortion ban, I can guarantee you that. I can guarantee you we will elect someone who does not care about our democracy and that's why we have to win on April 4," she continued.

In the days leading up to the election, conservatives alleged that Protasiewicz violated the Wisconsin Code of Judicial Conduct after she called the state's legislative maps "rigged." In January, she accused the U.S. Supreme Court of ignoring "the will of the people" for "incorrectly" deciding the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

However, there was no violation, as the U.S. Supreme Court doesn't bar judicial candidates to exercise their constitutional right of expressing their views on disputed issues.

Protasiewicz's spokesperson defended her right to make her opinions known as well.

"Judge Protasiewicz's comments are based in the law — agreeing with court decisions in some cases and dissents in others," campaign spokesperson Sam Roecker said. "As a member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, she will be committed to impartially following the law, keeping people safe, protecting our constitutional rights and returning the court to being a nonpartisan body."

Protasiewicz came under fire in 2021 after she sentenced a felon accused of abducting and raping a teenage girl in a hotel room in May 2020 with no prison time. The 34-year-old accused, Anton R. Veasley, was released back into the community after Protasiewicz gave him time served in June 2021. He was back in the Washington County Jail by July of that year, was released again and is now reportedly listed as a non-compliant sex offender.

The judge has recently been accused of lying about her sentencing record.

Protasiewicz has sentenced 3,827 defendants as of February 2023, as per records by the Milwaukee County Clerk of Central Court, which were requested by Wisconsin Watch. During an interview with WKOW in January, however, Protasiewicz claimed she has handed out sentences to "tens of thousands of people."

When asked about the sentencing of the alleged rapist as well as the backlash she received that raised serious concerns about her sentencing record, Protasiewicz responded, "That's absolutely ridiculous. I have sentenced not hundreds of people, not thousands of people, but tens of thousands of people, and I make those hard calls every single day."

According to the records from the clerk's office, Protasiewicz handed down 353 sentencings in her debut year. She handed down 1,213 sentencings in 2015, 806 in 2016, 532 in 2017, 291 in 2018, 336 in 2019, 104 in 2020, 99 in 2021 and 86 in 2022. This year, she has so far handed down seven sentencings.

U.S. Supreme Court
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