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Campaign for Wisconsin Supreme Court has abortion access on the line

The outcome of the contentious election for state Supreme Court on Tuesday, which has grown to be the most costly of its kind in American history, will likely determine the future of abortion access in competitive Wisconsin.

AP — Madison, Wisconsin The outcome of the contentious contest for state Supreme Court on Tuesday will likely determine the future of abortion access in Wisconsin, along with the fate of GOP-drawn legislative districts, voting rights, and years' worth of other Republican initiatives.

While it has been under conservative control for 15 years, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has had the ultimate say on a wide range of Republican laws passed by the GOP-controlled Assembly. The court narrowly missed invalidating President Joseph Biden's election in 2020 by one vote.

The most expensive court race in American history is between Democratic nominee Janet Protasiewicz and Republican nominee Dan Kelly, nearly tripling the previous record of $15 million established in Illinois in 2004.

Democrats are competing to seize control of the government from the conservatives for at least the next two years, including the period leading up to and following the 2024 presidential election. In Wisconsin, four of the last six presidential contests have been decided by less than a percentage point, and in 2020, Trump tried unsuccessfully to have about 21,000 votes thrown out by the courts.

Protasiewicz, a Milwaukee County judge, centred the election entirely on abortion, declaring her support for the practise while remaining mum about how she would rule on a case currently being brought against Wisconsin's 174-year-old ban, which was adopted a year after statehood. She referred to Kelly as a "extreme partisan" and asserted that he would support the state prohibition if elected. Kelly did not specify his judicial approach.

Kelly has previously voiced his opposition to abortion, including in a blog post from 2012 in which he claimed that the Democratic Party and the National Organization for Women were dedicated to normalising the killing of human life. Kelly has also provided legal assistance to Wisconsin Right to Life.

Kelly, a former jurist, once worked for Republicans and gave them advice on a scheme to have phoney GOP electors vote for Trump after the 2020 election even though he had lost. The top three anti-abortion organisations in the state support him, whereas Protasiewicz has the support of organisations like Planned Parenthood and others that support abortion rights.

Protasiewicz has received the support of a fellow Milwaukee County judge who is also the daughter of the retiring conservative Judge Pat Roggensack, a sign of how personal the campaign has gotten. A week before the election, Judge Ellen Bostrom said in an opinion piece that Kelly was "unfit" to hold office due of his role in the false elector plot.

Because of that effort, Protasiewicz referred to Kelly as "a true threat to our democracy."

Kelly served four years on the court after being appointed, and Trump supported him in his unsuccessful bid for re-election in 2020. This year, Trump opted not to endorse. Among Protasiewicz's supporters is Hillary Clinton.

Kelly made an effort to disassociate himself from his work for Republicans by claiming that it would not affect how he would conduct himself as a justice. Kelly attempted to make the election about Protasiewicz's track record as a judge by claiming that she was lenient towards criminal activity. She was "bought and paid for," he added, by Democrats.

Protasiewicz pledged to disqualify herself from any case brought by Democrats after receiving more than $8 million in campaign contributions from the Wisconsin Democratic Party. In spite of pressure from his backers, including the state chamber of business, Kelly refused to commit to resigning from any case they could bring.

Protasiewicz was outspoken on a number of issues, including abortion and Wisconsin's gerrymandered legislative districts, which he called "rigged." Kelly accused her of making assumptions about that case, abortions, and other cases that the court would hear.