Wisconsin GOP threatens to impeach justice over donations, but conservatives also took party cash

By SCOTT BAUER and HARM VENHUIZEN
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Republicans are threatening to impeach a state Supreme Court justice over donations she received from the Democratic Party. But there’s no rule requiring her to recuse herself, and conservative judges on the court have taken Republican donations. A government watchdog group says the lack of ethics rules is of conservatives’ own making. In 2010 the court’s then-conservative majority passed a rule allowing justices to take cases even if they involve donors. Now that control of the court has flipped to liberals, the GOP-controlled Legislature says Justice Janet Protasiewicz cannot hear a redistricting case that could weaken Republicans’ hold on state government.