Dan Kelly's role in conspiracy to overturn 2020 election makes him unfit to serve on Wisconsin Supreme Court
I have had the privilege of serving as a Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge for nearly 14 years. I am also half of the only mother-daughter judicial duo in Wisconsin history. My mother, Justice Pat Roggensack, has been on the Wisconsin Supreme Court since 2003 and served as Chief Justice from 2015 to 2021. I am writing to share my opinion that former Justice Dan Kelly is unfit to occupy her seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Like my mother, I am a judge who follows the law and upholds our constitutional rights. I have served alongside Judge Janet Protasiewicz as a colleague in Milwaukee for almost a decade, and I know her abilities as a jurist and as a community leader. She is the better choice for voters this April 4.
As judges, we take an oath to support the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Wisconsin. Instead of supporting our constitutional rights, however, Kelly has worked to undermine the constitution and our democracy. He has never served as a front-line judge, and instead most recently served as a legal advisor to the Republican Party of Wisconsin as it implemented the fake elector scheme, part of a multifaceted conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
In the United States, we proudly elect our leaders. Our leaders do not install themselves. Our entire democracy – indeed, the very idea of America – is built on this bedrock constitutional right. Whatever our flaws and shortcomings, America, and Wisconsin specifically, has been a “city on a hill” for the peaceful transition of power.
Instead of peaceful transition, however, since the last presidential election, the country has been subject to a massive fraud designed to convince fellow citizens that the election was stolen. It seems the losing side – led by President Trump, Fox News, and his allies – believes the results should be overturned by any means necessary. To that end, they have intentionally lied to the American people and conspired to keep Trump illegally in power.
Kelly assisted in this scheme, and that makes him unfit to serve on our state’s highest court.
Our nation’s history is the story of the franchise being extended, from white male landowners to all white men, to Black men, to women, and so on. People have died in the struggle to secure the right to vote. At every stage, there has been violent resistance to extending our democracy to all. People have been willing to murder and terrorize others to suppress their right to vote. And, indeed, President Trump’s conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election culminated in violence, as the hallowed halls of our United States capital were invaded by insurrectionists. Law enforcement officers died. Dozens were wounded. The peaceful transition of power that has held fast since the Civil War was sullied – but not broken.
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This conspiracy continues to be an existential threat to our nation. The question is: are we going to remain a democracy, or are we going to become an authoritarian state? In my view, the risk is that grave.
I believe we all have a patriotic and moral obligation to vote against candidates who have helped this conspiracy along, even if we are not fully comfortable with their opponent or would not vote for them otherwise. Kelly helped this conspiracy along, working to overturn the 2020 Presidential election. That is not “conservative,” and it is not American. Kelly is unfit to serve on our highest court. I hope you join me in voting for Janet Protasiewicz on April 4.
Ellen Brostrom is a Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge first elected in 2009.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Democracy is at risk by sending Dan Kelly to Wisconsin Supreme Court.
