New Justice Swings Wisconsin Supreme Court to the Left

The court, one of nation’s most acrimonious, begins new progressive majority by firing top administrator.

Progressives gained control of Wisconsin’s highest court on Tuesday and appear ready to move quickly to pursue cases that could shift policy and political power in the state.

Janet Protasiewicz, elected in April after the most expensive contest for a state Supreme Court seat in U.S. history, was sworn in to the state’s seven-member Supreme Court on Tuesday, creating a narrow liberal majority. The court, which came within one vote of nullifying Joe Biden’s narrow win in Wisconsin during the 2020 election, has often been the ultimate stage of political clashes in a state evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.

The newly created majority wasted little time, informing a top courts administrator Tuesday that he would be fired. On Wednesday, a liberal law group announced it would file a lawsuit challenging the maps of state legislative districts.

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