Wisconsin Supreme Court restores 82 appointees made by Scott Walker, confirmed in lame-duck session

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court on Tuesday restored 82 appointees of former Gov. Scott Walker (R), including 15 that Walker’s Democratic successor, Gov. Tony Evers, had sought to remove from office, according to The Associated Press.

The 82 people were appointed in a controversial lame-duck legislative session late last year held after Evers defeated Walker in November.

The entire lame-duck session was later ruled unconstitutional, a decision subject to another court fight. 

The court voted 4-3 to overturn Evers’s effort to remove the appointees, allowing those essentially fired by Evers to return to work while an appeal of the case moves forward.

{mosads}“The 82 appointees shall immediately be allowed to perform the duties of their respective positions in the same manner as they were performing those duties,” the court said in its ruling, the AP noted.

Evers initially rescinded all 82 of Walker’s appointees, though he later reappointed all but 15.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling comes after a lower court in March ruled that the entire lame-duck session was unlawful.

An appeals court later put that ruling on hold, which will now continue following the state’s Supreme Court decision.

A spokesperson for Evers said the governor’s office is confident the lame-duck legislative session will ultimately be struck down.

“We are confident that the court will ultimately rule against the Legislature’s unconstitutional attempt to override the will of the people,” Melissa Baldauff told the AP.

State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R), who has yet to have the Republican-led chamber vote on any of Evers’s appointees, praised the court’s decision.

“I’m glad to see that the Supreme Court has ended this unnecessary constitutional crisis and enforced the return of these individuals to their rightful positions,” he said in a statement.