Wisconsin Senate boss ‘very scared’ of liberal majority of state Supreme Court

(The Center Square) – The top Republican in the Wisconsin Senate says he fears “years” of liberal dominance in the state because of Judge Janet Protasiewicz’s win on Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu told News Talk 1130 WISN’s Jay Weber that Protasiewicz’s win gives liberals control of the court for the first time in 15 years, and opens the door to all manner of victories that liberals could not win through the legislature.

“I’m very nervous and very scared of what’s going to happen over the next couple of years,” LeMahieu explained. “I think the first thing they might attack is one of my bills, the REINS Act, which gives us the ability to stop bureaucrats from passing administrative rules.” He added he’s “very fearful that the East Wing will then be able to weaponize” the Department of Natural Resources and other agencies to proliferate their liberal agenda.”

Protasiewicz’s win flips the Wisconsin Supreme Court from 4-3 conservative, to 4-3 liberal.

Protasiewicz made no secret of her opposition to Wisconsin’s pre-Roe abortion law, and her disdain for the state’s electoral maps. Both issues are certain to come before the Supreme Court.

LeMahieu said we’ll find out about the abortion question sooner rather than later.

“[Will] they go back to a 20 week ban, or will they go to a full-term woman’s right to kill a baby? We’ll find out, I guess, in the next year-or-two,” LeMahieu added.

Arguments in the first lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s abortion law are scheduled for next month, shortly after Protasiewicz is sworn-in on the court.

LeMahieu said the new veto-proof majority in the Wisconsin Senate is nice, but he said it’s not going to change the reality that Republicans face with a Democratic governor and a to-be liberal court.

“We don’t plan on impeaching,” LeMahieu said of his majority in the Senate. “For impeachment, there needs to be a serious crime or misdemeanor, there needs to be cause. It can’t be because your political opponent wins an election. That would be abusing the impeachment power.”

LeMahieu said the biggest benefit is that Republicans now have an extra seat in the Senate, and that gives them a better chance of holding on to the majority going forward.