MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has joined a coalition of labor unions in asking a judge to suspend a lame-duck law passed by the Republican-dominated Legislature that limits his powers, filing an affidavit calling for an injunction to block the measure.
Evers filed the affidavit Wednesday in Madison. He contends in the document that the law violates separation of powers principles, hampers his ability to control litigation on the state’s behalf and could force state agencies to take down tens of thousands of documents explaining how they interpret state statutes.
“This transparent and rushed attempt to stymie the incoming administrations went too far,” the affidavit states.
Misha Tseytlin, an attorney representing Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, declined to comment. He said the Republicans’ position would become clear in forthcoming briefs.
Republican lawmakers passed statutes in a December extraordinary session that limit the powers of the governor and the attorney general. The move was designed to hinder Evers and incoming Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul before they took office in early January.
The law prohibits Evers from ordering Kaul to withdraw from lawsuits, ensuring Evers can’t pull Wisconsin out of a multistate lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act. Kaul must obtain permission from the Legislature’s budget-writing committee before he can settle lawsuits and allows lawmakers to intervene in litigation using their own attorneys.
State agencies also must take down publications that explain how they interpret state law by July 1 unless they send all the publications through a new process that includes a public comment period.
Five unions, including the Service Employees International Union and the Wisconsin chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, filed a lawsuit in Dane County circuit court earlier this month arguing the law violates the separation of powers doctrine by stealing power from the executive branch and transferring it to the legislative branch. They also contend the law could result in a vast number of basic government communications vanishing and taxpayers footing lawmakers’ bills for private attorneys.
The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order as well as a temporary injunction blocking the law.
The unions named Evers as a defendant, but in his affidavit he adopts their positions. He maintains the lame-duck law limits his ability to enforce the law and hampers his ability to direct litigation on the state’s behalf. He goes on to argue that state agencies won’t be able to meet the July deadline for updating guidance documents, leaving vulnerable populations in the dark about how state services work, and allowing lawmakers to intervene in litigation using private attorneys will be costly for taxpayers and complicate cases.
Oral arguments in the case are set for March 25 before Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington.
A group of liberal-leaning organizations including the League of Women Voters also has filed a lawsuit in state court challenging the law. They argue the Legislature lacked authority to convene in extraordinary session.
Liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now persuaded U.S. District Judge James Peterson in January to strike down sections of the lame-duck law that restricted early in-person voting.
the fascistgop’s power grabs after losing elections have been happening in several states. every one of them needs to be challenged and tossed out. I’m glad to see Wisconsin going after the goopers for their blatant assault on democracy. Now the courts have to do what’s proper, as opposed to what’s reich.
My cynicism says Evers will lose. In my opinion, he should have announced immediately that he considered the lame duck’s vengeance laws were null and void, and that his administration would simply ignore them. Then the WI GOP would be the ones having to file the lawsuits for each gubernatorial act, take Evers to court, while he could govern with the same powers as Scott Walker held, until and if the courts stopped him: one action at a time.
But he’s hogtied himself and Wisconsin and the will of the voters by his priggish rule following, which nobody will ever give him credit for, nor appreciate. The old mantra “Democrats won’t fight”, all over again.
The Reactionary Party minions know these power grabs won’t withstand the merest constitutional scrutiny, and they know they are likely to lose their majorities in the next statewide election, but despite all that they do know what they’re doing: it will take months at minimum and possibly years to undo their dirty work, time which they will use to advance reactionary legislation against a crippled executive. It will then take years to undo the unpopular legislation.
This is the new general strategy of the R party overall, because they know their so-called “movement” (“conservative movement” being oxymoronic) instigated by Newt Gingrich is in its death throes due to their permanently shrinking political base. It’s stalling for time to do whatever damage they can rather than assessing their real long-term prospects and formulating a new political strategy and governing philosophy to remain relevant in a changing country and world. It’s also why today’s Reactionary Party is a hollow and dying institution, their only strengths are in raising money, propagandising the public, and manipulating the census and the districting process ensuring key elections are legitimately close enough that small manipulations of vote counts can swing key races. That’s it, that’s all they got, no governing philosophy, but a playbook that merely forestalls their inevitable political demise.
Well I appreciate the idea that the new Governor should ignore the laws passed by the old Governor in this situation, I think it is the wrong both morally and legally. To the moral, what goes around comes around, which needs no more explanation.
To the legal, to merely ignore the law and act like it does not exist is a good way to lose even if the law is later found to be unconstitutional or otherwise void. What I suspect is going to happen is that the Court will grant a temporary injunction keeping the law from going into effect thereby allowing the new Attorney General to pull out of the Obamacare lawsuit and do whatever else needs to be done to Govern.
That is well in many cases I would agree that Evers could or should simply ignore the law and let the other side sue him, in this situation you do not want that to be a precedent, the politics is clearly in Evers favor by fighting this power grab and keeping it in the news, and above all Evers is likely to win.
Misha Tseytlin, an attorney representing Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, said the Republicans’ position would become clear in forthcoming briefs.
Forthcoming briefs will soon indicate: “The Republicans’ position is that we don’t give a fuck about democracy, rule of law, or the majority of the citizens in the state of Wisconsin.”