Wisconsin Right Now

  The U.S. Supreme Court has granted Virginia’s emergency request to keep “noncitizens” off voter rolls, Attorney General Jason Miyares announced Wednesday morning via a social media post. The Wednesday morning announcement comes after a coalition of 24 state attorneys general joined the commonwealth in urging the high court to allow Virginia to remove “self-identified noncitizens” from voter rolls. Miyares announced Sunday evening that the commonwealth would file an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort to block a ruling an order from the U.S. District Court to return over 1,500 noncitizens to the voter rolls that have been removed since Aug. 7. The 6-3 ruling overturns the unanimous decision from a panel of judges in the Fourth Circuit of Appeals that rejected Virginia's request on Sunday to stop an order from a lower court to reinstate noncitizen registrations removed from voter rolls. In the amicus brief filed to the highest court, the...

Wisconsin’s next Supreme Court race could be even more contentious and even more expensive than the last one. Liberal Justice Anne Walsh Bradley surprised the state on Thursday when she announced she would not run for re-election next year. "My decision has not come lightly. It is made after careful consideration and reflection. I know I can do the job and do it well. I know I can win re-election, should I run. But it's just time to pass the torch, bring fresh perspectives to the court," Walsh Bradley said in a statement. She is one of Wisconsin’s longest-serving justices, serving her third 10-year term on the court. She wrote, “In the 177-year history of the court, only four justices have served longer than my length of service.” Walsh Bradley’s decision means the next election will be open. Former Republican attorney general, and current Waukesha County judge, Brad Schimel has already jumped into the race. There aren’t any declared Democrats yet. Schimel...

  The U.S. Supreme Court issued two rulings in less than 24 hours, ultimately allowing Texas' border bill, SB 4, to go into effect. The opinion sends the case back to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to hear the case on the merits. On Monday, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito  issued  a third extended stay on the initial stay he ordered on March 4 to prevent the law from going into effect on March 5 until the court could rule on the matter.  Alito first stayed a Fifth Circuit ruling that was issued for two consolidated lawsuits filed by the Department of Justice and El Paso County and nonprofit organizations, respectively. The two lawsuits  were filed  after Gov. Greg Abbott signed SB 4 into law, which makes illegal entry into Texas from a foreign nation a state crime. In February, U.S. District Judge David Ezra ruled against the law. On March 5, the Fifth Circuit  overturned  his ruling and the consolidated cases were appealed to the Supreme Court. The high court wa...

  The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Monday about whether the government can persuade social media companies to remove content from platforms. The Biden administration appealed  to the nation's highest court after a ruling by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last September that stated Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, the White House, the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention violated the First Amendment by influencing social media companies in moderating content on COVID-19 and the 2020 election. More than 50 individuals and organizations filed legal briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court in Murthy v. Missouri. The case was originally known as Missouri v. Biden. Last July, U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty ruled against the Biden administration and issued an injunction requested by Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to stop nine government agencies and their leaders and employees from specific actions and interactions wit...

  The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Monday about whether the government can persuade social media companies to remove content from platforms. The Biden administration appealed  to the nation's highest court after a ruling by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last September that stated Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, the White House, the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention violated the First Amendment by influencing social media companies in moderating content on COVID-19 and the 2020 election. More than 50 individuals and organizations filed legal briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court in Murthy v. Missouri. The case was originally known as Missouri v. Biden. Last July, U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty ruled against the Biden administration and issued an injunction requested by Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to stop nine government agencies and their leaders and employees from specific actions and interactions wit...

The Wisconsin Supreme Court is reopening the debate over ballot drop boxes. The liberal-majority court accepted a case that looks to overturn Wisconsin’s current ban on ballot drop boxes. The former conservative-majority court, ruled Wisconsin law does not allow for ballot drop boxes at any place except the election clerk’s office. "[The Wisconsin Elections Commission] staff may have been trying to make voting as easy as possible during the pandemic,” conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote in 2022. “But whatever their motivations, WEC must follow Wisconsin statutes. Good intentions never override the law." But Democrats and activists argued state law didn’t specifically ban them, and Wisconsin’s liberal justices argued that a ban on drop boxes was tantamount to voter suppression. "Although it pays lip service to the import of the right to vote, the majority/lead opinion has the practical effect of making it more difficult to exercise it. Such a result, al...

Six of Wisconsin’s eight members of Congress are Republican. The Wisconsin Supreme Court is now being asked to overturn the Wisconsin congressional maps after asking for new legislative maps. The Elias Law Group , headed by lawyer Mark Elias, asked the state’s high court to redraw the maps. Elias has ties to the Hillary Clinton campaign network and has filed several election-related lawsuits across the country. “Wisconsin’s current congressional map was drawn according to a 'least change' principle that perpetuated and exacerbated the partisan unfairness that has robbed Wisconsin voters of fair congressional districts for over a decade,” Elias Law Group partner Abha Khanna said in a statement. The “least change” principle kept Wisconsin’s maps largely unchanged in 2021, and once again gave Republicans in the state a majority. Six of Wisconsin’s eight members of Congress are Republican. Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming said the lawsuit isn’...

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court will not reconsider its ruling that tossed out the state’s political maps. The new liberal-majority court ruled 4-3 against a request from Republican lawmakers to listen to arguments again. Lawyers for the Republican-controlled legislature also said Friday’s deadline for new maps was too quick of a turnaround. The liberal-majority court ruled just before Christmas that Wisconsin’s political maps from 2022 were too gerrymandered in favor of Republicans. The court then ordered new maps for both the Wisconsin Assembly and Wisconsin Senate to be drawn before this spring’s primaries. Gov. Tony Evers has said he intends to offer input on the new maps, but he said it will likely be up to the court’s experts to decide what the new legislative boundaries will be. The Wisconsin Supreme Court didn’t offer an explanation with its decision. The deadline for those maps is 5 p.m. today. After that, experts hired by the court will either issue a report on ne...

  The U.S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal from former President Donald Trump next month on whether a Colorado Supreme Court ruling could keep him from appearing on the March Republican presidential primary ballot. After a regularly scheduled conference on Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court said it's  granting a writ of certiorari  from Trump’s legal team and scheduled oral arguments for February 8. The Colorado Republican Party also filed a request for the court to hear an appeal of the Colorado Supreme Court decision. “Coloradans, and the American people, deserve clarity on whether someone who engaged in insurrection may run for the country's highest office,” Democratic Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said in a statement after the U.S. Supreme Court's announcement. “I urge the Court to prioritize this case and issue a ruling as soon as possible.” Other states have attempted to remove Trump from the presidential primary ballot, stating his role in events ...

“One thing is clear: this will help Donald Trump...do these Colorado clowns in black robes not realize that?” -Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah The Colorado Supreme Court ruling Tuesday that former President Donald Trump could not appear on the 2024 presidential ballot has launched a wave of backlash with many saying it will help Trump electorally. “Unprecedented, unAmerican, and illegal election interference,” Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. A key line of attack on the decision is that it does what Trump’s opponents have always accused him of: Undermines Democracy. “The Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to disqualify President Trump from the 2024 ballot is an abuse of power and an attempt to silence the voice of millions of voters,” Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., wrote on X. The Colorado majority opinion admitted that the U.S. Supreme Court could intervene, and as a result postponed the effect of its ruling until Jan. 4, giving the higher court ...

The Colorado state Supreme Court voted 3-4 Tuesday to block former President Donald Trump from receiving votes on the 2024 presidential ballot, saying he is disqualified because he “engaged in an insurrection,” a reference to his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol protests gone awry. The majority opinion acknowledged the U.S. Supreme Court could weigh in, and as a result postponed the effect of its ruling until Jan. 4, giving the court about two weeks. The Colorado secretary of state has until Jan. 5 to certify the 2024 ballot. "We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us,” the court wrote in its majority, adding that the justices are “likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach. “We are also cognizant that we travel in uncharted territory, and that this case presents several issues of first impression,” the opinion added. The...

  Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor died at 93 on Friday morning in Phoenix. O'Connor died because of "complications" with dementia and "a respiratory illness," according to the court's news release. She was appointed to serve on the high court by late President Ronald Reagan in 1981, and she retired in 2006. “A daughter of the American Southwest, Sandra Day O’Connor blazed an historic trail as our Nation’s first female Justice. She met that challenge with undaunted determination, indisputable ability, and engaging candor," Chief Justice John Roberts said in a news release. "We at the Supreme Court mourn the loss of a beloved colleague, a fiercely independent defender of the rule of law, and an eloquent advocate for civics education. And we celebrate her enduring legacy as a true public servant and patriot.” The former justice was born in Texas, but she spent much of her life in Arizona. In the 1960s she was the former ...

"We hope that the Supreme Court will agree that this gross abuse of power must stop and never happen again." - Solicitor General Liz Murrill The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a free speech case involving the federal government and social media censorship during the COVID-19 pandemic. The court, which granted certiorari on Friday, could be poised to issue a landmark decision in the case, known as Louisiana and Missouri vs. Biden et al., to define the federal government's ability to clamp down on speech from social media platforms. "We are pleased to learn that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear this case, giving us yet another opportunity to defend the people from this assault on our First Amendment rights," Solicitor General Liz Murrill said in a news release. "It brings us one step closer to reestablishing the protections guaranteed to us in the Constitution and under the First Amendment. "We hope that the Supreme Court will agree that this gro...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned Maine’s ban on state tuition assistance to students attending religious schools in an education case that could have big implications for schools around the country. The dispute began when the state of Maine created a tuition assistance program for rural areas without public schools. The program, though, explicitly said that state funds could not be used at religious private schools, only secular schools. A family sued the state of Maine saying they should be able to use the state funding at a religious school if they desired. They argued the program discriminates against religious schools and violates the Free Exercise Clause of the Constitution. The Supreme Court sided with the challengers to Maine’s law Tuesday, ruling 6-3 in Carson v. Makin. “Maine’s program cannot survive strict scrutiny,” the court’s ruling says. “A neutral benefit program in which public funds flow to religious organizations through the independent choices of...

  The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up a challenge to Maine’s vaccine mandate for health care workers. The lawsuit, filed in August by the Florida-based Liberty Council on behalf of more than 2,000 Maine health care workers,  alleges  that the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention is violating federal law by requiring vaccinations for health care workers without allowing a religious exemption for those who object. On Tuesday, the justices rejected the group's motion to present oral arguments in the case without comment, per the high court's practice. The high court has rejected two previous requests for injunctions against the vaccine rules. Maine's Vaccine Mandate An executive order signed by Gov. Janet Mills, which went into effect in October, requires health care workers in the state to be fully vaccinated against the virus. The requirement includes health care workers in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, firefighters, emerge...

“Number one, I am committed that if I'm elected president and have an opportunity to appoint someone to the courts, I'll appoint the first Black woman to the courts,”  -Joe Biden U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is expected to formally announce his retirement from the high court Thursday. News broke of his imminent retirement Wednesday, setting off a flurry of speculation and political posturing over who would replace the Democrat-appointed justice. President Biden pledged multiple times on the campaign trail to nominate a Black female justice, emphasizing he is “looking forward to making sure there’s a Black woman on the Supreme Court.” “Number one, I am committed that if I'm elected president and have an opportunity to appoint someone to the courts, I'll appoint the first Black woman to the courts,” Biden said in March 2020. "It's required that they have representation now. It's long overdue." Shannon Bream, a host at Fox News , tw...

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky sparked debate once again during an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, where she said, “What [vaccines] can't do anymore is prevent transmission." Ahead of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on vaccine mandates expected as early as this week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control is under increased scrutiny after recent comments about COVID-19 deaths . CDC Director Rochelle Walensky fell into controversy after a clip of her appearance on Good Morning America Friday went viral. “I want to ask you about the encouraging headlines we're talking about this morning, a new study talking about just how well vaccines are working to prevent severe illness,” co-host Cecilia Vega said on Good Morning America. “Given that, is it time to rethink how we're living with this virus if it is potentially here to stay?” Walensky responded, saying “the overwhelming number of deaths, over 75%, occurred in people who had at least four comorbidities,” adding tha...