MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear a challenge to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ partial veto that locked in a school funding increase for the next 400 years, the justices announced Monday.
The Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce Litigation Center filed a lawsuit in April arguing the governor exceeded his authority. The group asked the high court to strike down the veto without waiting for the case to go through lower courts.
The court issued an order Monday afternoon saying it would take the case. The justices didn’t elaborate beyond setting a briefing schedule.
At issue is a partial veto Evers made in the state budget in July 2023 that increased revenue public schools can raise per student by $325 annually until 2425. Evers took language that originally applied the $325 increase for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years and vetoed the “20” and the hyphen to make the end date 2425, more than four centuries from now.
By the law, it seems clearly unconstitutional. While the Wisconsin Constitution stupidly gives the Governor the power to veto individual letters, it is clear that the power to write laws and raise taxes lies exclusively within the power of the legislature.
Politically, the leftists control the court. One might instinctively think that they will rule in favor of Evers to support “their guy.” However, handing that kind of power to the governor in perpetuity is fraught with risk for the Liberals. Wisconsin is an evenly divided state and there is no certainty that the Democrats will control the governorship last Evers’ current term. If the court enhances the power of the governor’s veto, what will a Republican governor do with it?
Remember that the court just unconstitutionally redrew the legislative districts in the hopes of taking back one or both houses of the legislature. Will the shoot themselves in the foot by disempowering the legislature just when they are poised to take it back?
If I were a betting man, I’d bet that the court’s liberals will make the correct ruling that the governor exceeded his authority. It’s smarter politics to play the long game for legislative power. It also allows them to portray the court as balanced just before a pivotal court election next spring.
-It also allows them to portray the court as balanced just before a pivotal court election next spring.
Lefties no longer share your values and couldn’t care less about appearances. The Wisconsin Constitution is useful to them only as an instrument to bludgeon their opposition, so if their own political interests require some creative re-interpretations, that’s exactly what will happen. Their short game is their long game and that’s winning at any and all costs. They will continue to behave as though elections no longer matter and their power is eternal.
They repeatedly show you who they are by word and deed. Believe them.
I wonder where Tony got the idea……
https://apnews.com/article/evers-veto-400-years-wisconsin-school-funding-67a7847e4a24ea86f7d16123356f770d
Merlin, while agree with you that liberals do not show the same values as everyone else, that doesn’t mean the veto wasn’t done knowing full well it would/should fail if it did go under scrutiny. Then they can use it to ‘prove’ the leftist court isn’t completely hacked.
If Owen is, uh, overly optimistic with the morals of dems, I think you are underestimating their powers of duplicity. That veto was a real win-win scenario for dems. If no one pointed it out, Evers gets his most loyal base a pretty great reason for celebration. If it does get targeted, it gives the newly lefty WI Supreme court a veneer of objectivity and is likely the reason the Supreme court took the case so directly, to put out the decision before the next election. If they wanted it delayed, they could have buried it in the lower courts for some time.
I would bet with Owen on this one. The dems have been playing smarter politics for quite a while now, it would be inferior logic to believe them incapable of pulling a simple scam to appear impartial if/when one of their ridiculous overreaches is halted.
T, my point is that they no longer feel the need to practice deception and duplicity. Scamming requires an intent to deceive. They’re ‘wrong’ on the veto, but they will have their way regardless simply because they own the avenue of remedy. They successfully placed Protasiewicz as a partisan hack willing to push a political agenda. She’s the second such placement. They’ve made zero attempt to hide this. No duplicity. No deception.
A lefty activist court built to push political agenda has the opportunity to grant Evers the ability to morph a legislature’s budget into his own by expanding his veto power. That’s a significant win that cannot be undone quickly or easily, if ever. What have you seen from these folks that leads you to believe they will pass on that opportunity? There’s no downside for them. No bad press. No meaningful legislative retribution.
We’re still assigning virtues to these people that simply don’t exist. It’s well past time to stop deceiving ourselves.
I fully understood and agreed with your points, Merlin, not sure how that did not get across, but it was probably my bad writing:). I was just adding that included in the no downside was that if/when they finally do get called on one and recant even one initiative (like the vague possibility that the court erases this particular veto) they still win.
Even my full lefty nephew in law serving a judge in Minnesota was a bit disturbed at the Trump trial. The blinds may just be lifting from the millennial eyes a bit. Hopefully there is still a ‘too far’ for liberals or the US is already done from being a representative republic.