Judge Protasiewicz wins election for state Supreme Court justice
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — Judge Janet Protasiewicz has won the April 4 statewide election for Supreme Court justice.
Protasiewicz appeared on the ballot with candidate Daniel Kelly, and according to unofficial election results, received 1,021,330 votes, or 56 percent, to Kelly’s 818,182 votes or 44 percent.
Governor Scott Walker appointed Kelly to the state Supreme Court, where he served from 2016 to 2020.
Kelly ran for the justice position in 2020 and lost the election to Jill Karofsky. He was hired by the Wisconsin State Republican Party after his Supreme Court term ended to provide legal counsel to the state Republican Party following the 2020 presidential election.
Judge Protasiewicz has served as a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge since 2014.
She is originally from Milwaukee and earned a bachelor’s degree in Education from UW-Milwaukee in 1985 and her Juris Doctor from Marquette University Law School in 1988.
Protasiewicz began working as an assistant district attorney in Milwaukee County shortly after graduating from law school and served as an assistant DA for 26 years.
As a judge, she has served family court and has presided over felony, domestic violence and drug court cases.
Referendum 1
The statewide referendum question for amending the state’s constitution concerning conditions of release before conviction was approved by Wisconsin voters with 1,025,771 “yes” votes, or 68 percent of the vote, to 490,661 “no”votes, or 32 percent.
Question 1 read: “Conditions of release before conviction. Shall Section 8 (2) of Article I of the constitution be amended to allow a court to impose on an accused person being released before conviction conditions that are designed to protect the community from serious harm.” (Yes. No.)
While the referendum question amends the state constitution, under current state law, judges can set conditions of release before conviction. A defendant arrested for a criminal offense is eligible for release under reasonable conditions designed to assure his or her appearance in court, protect members of the community from serious bodily harm, or prevent the intimidation of witnesses.
Referendum 2
The statewide referendum question for amending the state’s constitution concerning allowing a court to impose cash bail on a person accused of violent crime based on the circumstances.
Wisconsin voters approved the question with 1,025,771 “yes” votes, or 68 percent of the total, to 490,661 “no” votes, or 32 percent of the total.
Question 2 read: “Cash bail before conviction. Shall Section 8 (2) of Article I of the constitution be amended to allow a court to impose cash bail on a person accused of a violent crime based on the totality of the circumstances, including the accused’s previous convictions for a violent crime, the probability that the accused will fail to appear, the need to protect the community from serious harm and prevent witness intimidation, and affirmative defenses?” (Yes. No.)
While the referendum question amends the state constitution, under current state law, judges can order cash bail if the court has a reasonable basis to believe that cash bail is necessary to ensure the accused will appear in court. According to state law, conditions of release after the bail has been posted also may be imposed for the purpose of protecting members of the community from serious bodily harm or preventing intimidation of witnesses.
Question 3
The third statewide referendum question was a non-binding, advisory question pertaining to whether able-bodied, childless adults should be required to look for work in order to receive welfare benefits.
The third question received 1,224,071 “yes” votes, or 80 percent, to 314,299 “no”votes, or 20 percent.
Advisory referendum Question 3 read: “Shall able-bodied childless adults be required to look for work to receive taxpayer-funded welfare benefits?” (Yes. No.)
Wisconsin currently requires adults without children who receive unemployment benefits and Food Share benefits to look for work.
Since the question is non-binding, the results of the referendum will not change state law.
