Wisconsin Supreme Court agrees to take up Gov. Evers’s lawsuit against GOP lawmakers

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has agreed to hear Gov. Tony Evers’s (D) lawsuit against the Republican-controlled state Legislature, which he alleges is obstructing basic government functions.

The court’s liberal majority agreed to hear the case. Its three conservative justices dissented. Oral arguments are set for April 17, The Associated Press reported.

The court has only agreed to immediately hear one of the issues in Evers’s lawsuit, which relates to the GOP-controlled budget committee blocking state conservation programs from receiving funding.

The state Supreme Court said it was keeping the other issues on hold pending a future order, the AP reported.

Evers filed his lawsuit in October, alleging the Republican state lawmakers “obstructed basic government functions” through the use of legislative vetoes.

One of the legislative vetoes blocked conservation projects selected by the Department of Natural Resources. Evers also challenged a veto that blocked already approved pay raises for 35,000 University of Wisconsin system employees, but after he filed the lawsuit, Republicans and the university system reached an agreement approving raises if the school cuts back on diversity initiatives.

Republican lawmakers in the state also blocked updating rules for the state’s commercial building standards and ethics standards for social workers, marriage, family therapists and professional counselors.

The AP noted that since Evers was elected in 2018, he has been at odds with the GOP-controlled state Legislature. He has issued more vetoes than any other Wisconsin governor, including blocking legislation that could change how elections would be run in the key swing state.

The Hill has reached out to Evers’s office for comment.