MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Supreme Court today unanimously struck down part of a partisan Republican power grab adopted by the state legislature in their unprecedented post-election sore loser session in December 2018. Today’s action by the state high court reverses the earlier decision authored by right-wing Appeals Court Judge Maria Lazar, and joined by Judge Shelley Grogan, to uphold the GOP’s actions.
The decision, authored by conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn, finds that the legislature can’t interfere or oversee certain actions brought by the state Department of Justice and overseen by the Wisconsin Attorney General.
The following are the statements of A Better Wisconsin Together Deputy Director Mike Browne:
“A unanimous Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Republicans in the legislature don’t get to interfere in a core part of the job of State Attorney General just because voters elected a Democrat.
“All seven justices worked together to protect our freedom. When we elect someone to represent us, they ought to be able to exercise the powers of that office under our state constitution.
“In this case, Republicans in the legislature engaged in a blatant power grab for no other reason than they didn’t like the decision of the voters of Wisconsin to elect a Democrat as Attorney General.
“Most recently we have seen legislative Republicans walking out on bipartisan negotiations and fumbling their job to pass a state budget that takes care of the needs and priorities of the people of Wisconsin. We call on these same Republicans to reflect on the court’s unanimous repudiation of their rank partisanship and choose a different path going forward.”
