No independent judiciary here!
The "further review" is in.
On 4-3 vote, Wisconsin Supreme Court upholds state's lame-duck laws limiting power of Democratic governor. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6/21/2019)
Writing for the dissenters, Dallet contended the Legislature's two-year session "ceased to exist" in March 2018, when it held its last planned meeting. Leaders had "no authority" to bring lawmakers back in December because no state law gave them that power, she wrote.
"The Legislature violated the plain constitutional text, and this court must act as a check," she wrote.
Wisconsin Supreme Court order puts most lame-duck laws back into effect. (Wisconsin State Journal, 6/11/2019)
The Supreme Court by a split decision in April decided it would take over the appeal in the case. It did so voluntarily, without a motion from any of the parties involved, a relatively rare move. Parts of the case were set for trial on Wednesday and Thursday in Dane County Court, but the Supreme Court’s order suspended it pending a further order from the high court.
"Did so voluntarily"?
Bet your bottom dollar Fitzgerald and Vos gave Chief Justice Patience Roggensack -- she's the blonde on the left -- her marching orders.
Related lame-duck, extraordinary session, power grab posts:
The GOP Wisconsin State Senator from Appleton is a bald-faced liar. Period. (1/12/2019)
Scott Walker appoints GOP contributor to UW Board of Regents. (12/4/2018)
Scott Walker gives campaign contributor her old job back at the PSC. (12/4/2018)
All of a sudden, Scott Walker is in a big hurry to fill nontraditional student regent position that was vacant for nearly a year. (12/5/2018)
UPDATE: Robin Vos continues to show signs of severe delirium. (12/5/2018)
From library champion to "hot mess" chump. (12/6/2018)
Rick Gundrum between a rock and a hard place. (12/6/2018)
The Dave Murphy, "Ain't It Funny How Time Slips Away" edition. (12/6/2018)
UPDATE. Thank you for your response, John Macco. (12/13/2018)
5/15/2019 update, "Bought and paid for conservative justices signal skepticism of challenge to lame-duck laws", starts here.
Sources:
- Urban Milwaukee, 2/8/2018
- Wisconsin State Journal, 5/15/2019
Related reading:
The Destruction of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. (The New Yorker, 5/5/2015)
5/1/2019 update, "Will the conservative majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court give its seal of approval to the GOP power grab?", starts here.
Really. Was there ever any doubt?
There's a word for that, Melissa. The order to restore the appointments comes as the state's highest court considers lawsuits filed by the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin and others over action taken in December by the GOP lawmakers to shift away powers from Evers and Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul before they took office. Evers' spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff said Evers is "confident that the court will ultimately rule against the Legislature's unconstitutional attempt to override the will of the people" despite Tuesday's decision.
Original 4/20/2019 post starts here.
Headline from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinen, 4./19/2019
The 4 do what they're told to do. The court's decision means two of the four lawsuits challenging the GOP-controlled Legislature's action before Evers and Kaul were sworn into office will be decided by the Supreme Court, which is controlled by conservative-leaning justices.
The court's four conservative justices wrote that they "concluded that the interests of the state would be best served by the appeal bypassing the court of appeals and proceeding in this court."
Elections have consequences
Brian Hagedorn greatly outperformed the 2018 conservative Supreme Court candidate.
