Wisconsin Supreme Court justices question how much power Legislature should have

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Supreme Court justices questioned Wednesday how much power legislative committees should wield, in a case that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers brought against the Republican-controlled Legislature and that could have a major impact on how state government functions.

A ruling in favor of Evers would upend decades-old practices in the Legislature and make it easier to approve projects in a land stewardship program. But justices echoed concerns raised by Republicans that the case could have far broader impacts on the separation of power between the executive and legislative branches.

Siding with Evers would “overturn how our state government has functioned for almost a century,” Misha Tseytlin, a lawyer for the Legislature, told the court.

But liberal Justice Jill Karofsky, in deflecting arguments that the court should not overturn such established practices, said “Maybe they’ve been wrong for the last century and we shouldn’t double down on how wrong this is.”

https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-evers-legislature-supreme-court-b22dca1b14b9ec62fc23bbbafb945307