GOP-led Wis­con­sin impeach­ment pan­el sued by lib­er­al watch­dog over ‘secre­cy’

A lib­er­al watch­dog group filed a law­suit on Mon­day against a three-per­son Repub­li­can-led pan­el inves­ti­gat­ing pos­si­ble impeach­ment charges against Jus­tice Janet Pro­tasiewicz, Wis­con­sin’s newest and most lib­er­al state Supreme Court judge.
The law­suit, brought by Amer­i­can Over­sight, is ask­ing a judge to order the pan­el to make its meet­ings pub­lic, argu­ing it is a gov­ern­ment body and that meet­ing in secret is a vio­la­tion of the state’s Open Meet­ings Law, accord­ing to the com­plaint filed in Dane Coun­ty Cir­cuit Court.
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The com­plaint also asks the dis­trict attor­ney to void any actions the pan­el has tak­en that do not com­ply with the law and to take steps to pre­vent fur­ther closed-door meet­ings from tak­ing place. 
“[Repub­li­can Assem­bly Speak­er Robin Vos] has con­vened a secret pan­el to quick­ly craft rec­om­men­da­tions for the poten­tial impeach­ment of a new­ly elect­ed state Supreme Court jus­tice — a fun­da­men­tal­ly anti-demo­c­ra­t­ic action that is of great pub­lic impor­tance and inter­est,” Amer­i­can Over­sight Exec­u­tive Direc­tor Heather Sawyer said in a writ­ten state­ment. “His efforts to shroud the work and the iden­ti­ties of the pan­elists in secre­cy vio­lates Wisconsin’s Open Meet­ings Law as well as the state’s strong and well-estab­lished …