The brief provides critical historical context for the Wisconsin Supreme Court
Delafield, WI – Yesterday [September 17], the Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) filed an amicus curiae brief with the Wisconsin Supreme Court in LeMieux v. Evers, a case filed by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) in April challenging the Governor’s partial veto of 2023 Wisconsin Act 19. The partial veto extended the Legislature’s $325 per student revenue increase through 2425 – 400 years longer than approved by the Legislature.
Read a copy of the amicus brief here.
WHAT IT IS: IRG’s amicus provides critical historical perspective to the Court. As explained in its brief, in 1931, Governor Philip La Follette became the first governor to exercise the partial veto authority, doing so on two occasions. But Governor La Follette’s most significant partial veto was the one he never made. In his veto message to that year’s budget bill, Governor La Follette noted that the bill reduced the appropriation to the University of Wisconsin from the prior budget. He observed that vetoing the reduced appropriation would have allowed UW’s funding to continue at the prior budget’s higher level. Governor La Follette authored a thoughtful veto message explaining that using the partial veto power to increase public spending would be unconstitutional. From 1931–1987, no governor attempted to use the partial veto power to increase public spending or taxation. Unfortunately, governors from both parties have since ignored the precedent established in 1931 and abused the partial veto authority.
WHY DOES IT MATTER: The governor’s partial veto power shifts some of the power to decide what legislation will say away from the many (the legislature) and assigns it to the one (the governor). Unless this power is carefully monitored and its constitutional limits rigorously enforced, it risks the creation of laws that undermine—rather than advance—the will of the people.
IRG’s Chief Legal Counsel and Director of Oversight Jake Curtis released the following statement:
“In 1990 and 2008 the Wisconsin voters amended the state’s Constitution to scale back the gubernatorial veto power. Governor Evers’ decision to use the partial veto to increase funding for 400 years, a period longer than the existence of our state and country, beyond what the Legislature authorized is an affront to our constitutional order. The Court has an opportunity to rein in the veto authority to the limits followed by Governor La Follette in 1931.
“Special thanks to our counsel, Caleb Gerbitz, Alexander Lemke, and James Sosnoski for their outstanding work and for their willingness to stand up in defense of our Constitution.”
For questions, please email Jake Curtis, IRG’s General Counsel and Director of Oversight: jc@reforminggovernment.org.
###
IRG’s Center for Investigative Oversight was created in 2023 to hold government accountable.
The Institute for Reforming Government is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that seeks to simplify government at every level by offering policy solutions to thought leaders in American government in the areas of tax reform, government inefficiency, and burdensome regulations.
