The Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) released the following statement in response to the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision [in LeMieux v. Evers] upholding Gov. Tony Evers’ unprecedented line-item veto enshrining a budgetary increase for 400 years:
THE QUOTE: “The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority is demonstrating just how reckless it will be with Wisconsinites’ taxpayer dollars and constitutional freedoms,” said Jake Curtis, General Counsel of IRG. “By allowing Gov. Evers to unilaterally increase funding for 400 years, the Wisconsin Supreme Court is not only giving a blank check to bureaucrats, but empowering Gov. Evers and future governors to wholesale rewrite laws passed by the State Legislature.”
WHY IT MATTERS: The Governor of Wisconsin wields one of the most powerful veto pens in the country. Used as intended, it can be a powerful tool to restrain the growth of government, especially in huge bills that roll together thousands of policy and spending items. Citizens rightly loathe the federal government’s use of omnibus bills that Congress votes through in the middle of the night without even reading. The partial veto is an important guard against that type of bad policymaking.
However, the partial veto can be abused in ways that actually increase the size and scope of government, rather than restraining it. That’s what happened here, when Governor Evers used his pen to unilaterally create a 400-year budget increase in spending. That sort of action seems laughably wrong, but this Supreme Court majority has just upheld it. In doing so, the Court has given the governor free reign to rewrite bills, supplanting the elected legislature with a governor who can write new laws one digit, number, or letter at a time.
WHAT’S NEXT: IRG has been actively engaged on this particular case, including through an amicus brief filed with the Court. IRG’s Court Watch initiative will continue its vigilance on behalf of Wisconsin citizens’ taxpayer dollars and constitutional freedoms.
