OP-ED: One Year of a Progressive Majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court – A Look at How the New Majority Has Stood up for Our Constitutional Rights and Freedoms

August 1, 2024 marks one full year since Justice Janet Protasiewicz was sworn into office after Wisconsin voters overwhelmingly elected her to our state Supreme Court, flipping the court to a progressive majority for the first time in 15 years.

In just one year, the new progressive majority has been doing exactly what voters across the Badger State elected them to do: hear cases where our constitutional rights and freedoms are at stake and ensure those rights and freedoms are protected.

One of the first cases the court’s new majority decided to hear was a case seeking to protect our right to fair maps and a truly representative government. The court ultimately ruled that the state legislative maps in place at the time, which were drawn by Republican lawmakers to give themselves an unfair partisan advantage, were unconstitutional.

Now, Governor Tony Evers has signed new and fair state legislative maps into law that ensure everyone’s voice holds equal weight and that voters choose our leaders, not the other way around.

Just weeks ago, the court once again ruled to protect Wisconsinites’ right to have our voices heard in our elections. On July 5, the court reinstated the use of secure ballot dropboxes after the the MAGA-controlled court in 2022 had banned most use of dropboxes and created severe barriers for voters across the state, especially rural voters and voters with disabilities.

In addition to protecting our freedom to choose our leaders, the court’s progressive majority also recently decided to take up a case that could determine whether abortion access is protected under our state constitution. The justices’ decision to hear this case means that a pathway remains open to a Wisconsin where politicians have no place in our exam rooms, and where elected officials have no business mandating decisions that should be made between a patient and their doctor.

These critical steps forward for fair maps, democracy, and reproductive rights would not have been possible without the new majority of justices giving these cases their day in court and putting the rights and freedoms of Wisconsinites over partisan game playing.

As we approach another Wisconsin Supreme Court election in 2025, we must continue holding those elected to the court accountable to protecting our constitutional rights and freedoms.