MADISON, Wis. — Deeply concerned by persistent GOP threats to impeach Justice Janet Protasiewicz, more than 50 Wisconsinites gathered at Ally’s Powerhouse Cafe in Wauwatosa to hear from legislative leaders Sen. Melissa Agard and Rep. Kalan Haywood at a WisDems Defend Justice town hall.
Attendees discussed next steps in the effort to counter Republican impeachment threats in the wake of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’ formation of a secret impeachment investigation.
“When they don’t get their way, they want to change the rules,” said Representative Kalan Haywood. “That’s what they’re trying to do now. So they’re ready to impeach a sitting Supreme Court justice if she does not recuse herself in a case they have not yet heard. And my concern and theory is, it doesn’t stop there.”
One person noticeably absent from last night’s town hall: Senator Rob Hutton. Despite the event occurring in his own backyard—and having watched his district vote for Justice Protasiewicz by more than 6 points—Hutton refused to appear to address his own constituents and answer questions about a possible Republican effort to overturn this April’s election.
“We invited Senator Hutton to join us here—this is his district—so he could talk to us about why it is that he and his party are working to impeach Justice Protasiewicz … we invited him, we’ve reached out to him, we tweeted at him, we sent messages to him, but guess what? We have an empty chair,” said Senator Melissa Agard.
Senator Agard also spoke to a path forward in light of Robin Vos’ continued threats to use impeachment to overturn this April’s election.
“We need those folks that are sitting on the fences to actually stand up and say unequivocally that they do not support the impeachment of Justice Protasiewicz,” said Senator Agard. “That will put it to an end, just one member of the Republican caucus in the Senate will put this to an end. We can put this to bed and we can start talking about the issues that matter most to people in Wisconsin.”
See a full video of last night’s event here
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