Wisconsin Supreme Court agrees to hear Gov. Evers’ suit against GOP Legislature

• The Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear a lawsuit by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers against the Republican-controlled state Legislature.
• Evers’ lawsuit alleges that lawmakers are interfering with basic functions of state government.
• The court’s clear ideological divide was evident in its ruling, with four liberal justices siding with Evers and a conservative minority of three justices dissenting.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ lawsuit against the Republican-controlled Legislature for interfering with basic government functions.

The court’s liberal majority agreed to hear the case, but three conservative justices dissented. Oral argument has been set for April 17th.

The court only agreed to immediately consider one of the three issues Evers raised in his complaint. The issue is related to the Republican-controlled Legislature’s budget committees blocking funding for state conservation programs.

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Evers also took issue with a committee of legislative leaders not approving raises for University of Wisconsin employees. But after the lawsuit was filed, the commission approved the increase. Mr. Evers had also challenged legislative committees blocking updates to the state’s commercial building codes and ethical standards for licensed professionals.

The court said it would put both of these matters on hold until further orders.

Liberal Justices Janet Protasiewicz, Rebecca Durrett, Jill Karofsky and Anne Walsh-Bradley have agreed to take on the case. Conservative Chief Justice Annette Ziegler and Justices Brian Hagedorn and Rebecca Bradley dissented.

In a dissent, Rebecca Bradley accused the majority of “unnecessarily embroiling this court in political mire.”

“By accepting only one of the issues raised by the governor and setting aside the other two, the majority recasts this court as a tool for the governor to impose policy changes without the consent of the governed. ” she wrote. “When the majority’s political allies tell you to jump, the new majority says, ‘How high?'”

In a separate dissenting opinion, Mr. Hagedorn said the lawsuit was consequential and that he had doubts about taking the case directly instead of first establishing the facts through lower court proceedings.

“The decision in this case could spark historic changes both in how state government operates and in how this court interprets the boundaries between branches of government,” Hagedorn wrote. . “Thoughtful lower court decisions typically add clarity to our work by framing the argument and telling the parties what worked and what didn’t.”

Evers and Republican legislative leaders, House Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Evers argued in his lawsuit that the commission, controlled by a small number of Republicans, was being used by Congress “far beyond the proper scope of its constitutional authority.”

Evers cited the Legislature’s appropriations committee’s rejection of dozens of conservation projects selected by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources under the Knowles-Nelson Management Program. Republicans have long criticized the program, which protects land from development.

LeMahieu said in a statement that Evers “seeks to weaken the voices of Wisconsinites by limiting the power of the Legislature and unduly strengthening his own government,” and called the lawsuit frivolous at the time it was filed. It was rejected as such.

Evers and the Republican-controlled Legislature have been at odds since the moment he was elected in November 2018. He has used more vetoes than any other Wisconsin governor, blocking numerous bills that would change how elections are conducted in presidential battleground states.

The Legislature convened a lame duck session weeks before Mr. Evers took office to weaken the incoming governor’s powers. They have repeatedly rejected Mr. Evers’ appointments to boards and committees, including firing a majority of the Natural Resources Committee in October.

Another sign of the tension between the two parties is that Mr. Evers has rarely met with Republican legislative leaders. Mr. Evers is in the second year of his second term.

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court flipped to a liberal majority in August. In December, the Republican-drawn congressional map was thrown out by a 4-3 vote.The Evers case is one of several high-profile cases brought by Democrats since the court’s majority changed hands.