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.”

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.”
• Protasiewicz told 27 News in an interview she doesn't mind being branded as a progressive, at least with regard to social issues. "In regard to the progressive label, I embrace that when it comes to issues such as gerrymandering," she said. "When we talk about the maps, when we talk about marriage equality, when we talk about women's rights, and women's rights to choose."
  
• “'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]

Protasiewicz’s first TV ads focus on abortion. “On the Supreme Court I’ll be a common-sense judge,” she says. “I’ll protect public safety. I believe in a woman’s freedom to make her own decision on abortion. It’s time for a change.” The second features a series of women expressing support for Protasiewicz, one of four candidates on the ballot next month. One says she “believes in our freedom to make our own decisions when it comes to abortion” while others says “extremists” want to ban abortion even in cases of rape and the health of the mother. A woman closes the ad, “Judge Janet Protasiewicz is the change Wisconsin needs.”

See the ads:
https://youtu.be/NccB5rwJsZs
https://youtu.be/1sOnGvAyTno