“What’s important is our country, and our ability to have a leader who has civility and who can lead a country with integrity . ... I believe that leaders have a responsibility to set an example for young people.”
Janine Geske, a retired state Supreme Court justice appointed by Republican former Gov. Tommy Thompson, on Thursday endorsed Democratic nominee Joe Biden for president.
Geske said this was the first time in “40 years, at least” that she endorsed a candidate for partisan office.
“I am, one, so very upset with this president and what he has done with the country and our institutions,” Geske said in an interview with the Journal Sentinel. “And, secondly, I have such confidence in Joe Biden that he’s the kind of peacemaker, intelligent, hardworking kind of guy that we need in the presidency.”
Geske was appointed by Republican former Gov. Lee Dreyfus to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court in 1981, then appointed in 1993 by Thompson to the Supreme Court, where she served until 1998.
More recently, she served as a professor at Marquette University Law School and director of the school’s Restorative Justice Initiative.
Geske is currently a member of the Marquette University Board of Trustees. Over the summer, she and two other retired judges were picked by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to decide who should serve on a commission to draw new legislative maps.
Geske said that while she enjoys her sense of neutrality, she felt the need to speak up.
“I just decided I couldn’t stand it anymore,” she said. “Things are so bad in this country now, we just need to turn it around.”
She added that she’s voted for both Republicans and Democrats in the past.
“I vote for the person, and their values,” Geske said.
She said she’s concerned about what has been happening to the country’s democratic institutions, especially when it comes to the courts and the independence of the judiciary.
“What’s important is our country, and our ability to have a leader who has civility and who can lead a country with integrity. We don’t have that right now,” Geske said. “I believe that leaders have a responsibility to set an example for young people.”
Andrew Hitt, chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, said he wasn’t surprised by the endorsement.
“For years Janine Geske has been questioning conservative rulings, jurists, and judicial philosophies on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, so it’s no surprise that she’d endorse Joe Biden who refuses to reveal what liberal activist judges he’d put on the U.S. Supreme Court,” Hitt said. “President Trump has appointed and will continue to appoint judges who will uphold the Constitution and the rule of law for generations to come.”