Janet Claire Protasiewicz

Judge Janet Protasiewicz worked as a Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge since 2014. Prior, she was a Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney for 26 years. She graduated from University of Wisconsin Milwaukee with a degree in history and received her Juris Doctorate from Marquette Law School where she has also worked as adjunct professor.”

She stated she entered the election because “... I could not stand by and watch right-wing extremists take control of the state’s highest court.”

Judge Protasiewicz’ campaign website

Relevant Statements:

• “I’d say that in addition to independence, you bring your values to the court everyday,” she says. “You bring your values, values like your belief in democracy, which kind of leads me in the way that I philosophically think about gerrymandering and the maps. Philosophically, values leading me to believe that a woman’s right to make decisions over her own body should be just that, not made by the government but made by the person who’s ultimately being affected by them. I think on some of those hot button issues, I can certainly tell you what my values are.” said Protasiewicz.
• Stated “that in her court in Milwaukee, she’s always kept her focus on upholding the constitution and keeping the community safe.”
• “'For almost my entire life, the constitutional right to privacy has been settled law,' said Protasiewicz. 'We know that it’s not up to the government to decide who we can or can’t love[.]'"

Twitter:

• In regard to Dobbs she wrote“[t]oday’s opinion overturning Roe v. Wade and threatening all of the substantive due process freedoms won over the last century, is a political statement, not a legal one.”
• “She believes in fairness, in upholding the rule of law, and in protecting our legal system from the corrupt influence of right-wing special interest.” [Posted to Twitter January 4, 2023]
• She posted “Wisconsin faces some of the most pressing challenges in the struggle for reproductive freedom and election fairness, we need to elect a justice with the character and values to fairly interpret the law. I’m running to restore our Wisconsin values to our state's highest court.” [Twitter post on August 23, 2022]

Concerning: Pro-choice, in favor of gay marriage, stated that judges "bring their value to court everyday," refers to Justices Dorow and Kelly as rightwing extremists. 

• Janet Claire Protasiewicz completed the League of Women Voters of Dane County Survey.

**Information discovered post-publish and not considered in evaluations.