Watchdog files open meetings lawsuit against secret panel studying Wisconsin justice's impeachment

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A liberal watchdog group on Monday sued a secret panel investigating the criteria for impeaching a liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court justice, asking a judge to order the panel to stop meeting behind closed doors.

The panel is a government body and therefore required by state law to meet in public, attorneys for American Oversight argued in a complaint filed in Dane County Circuit Court.

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos established the panel of three former state Supreme Court justices earlier this month as he considers taking the unprecedented step of impeaching Justice Janet Protasiewicz. He has refused to say who is on the panel.

“This complaint is without merit and shows how desperate the left is to change the subject away from the more important issue of the recusal of Justice Protasiewicz,” he said in a statement Monday.

https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-supreme-court-impeachment-panel-lawsuit-ec29e37adaf61dd7a9491529c84b09c8#:~:text=September%2025%2C%202023-,MADISON%2C%20Wis.,stop%20meeting%20behind%20closed%20doors.