Constitutional Government and Rule of Law

Governor Evers used his partial veto authority to create new laws and pay for new projects the Legislature never approved. We believe that practice is a usurpation of the Legislature’s authority to write laws, and filed an original action in the Wisconsin Supreme Court in order to enforce limits on the power.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction issued first preliminary, and then final, federal report cards for the Every Student Succeeds Act to every school district in the state. DPI insisted that school districts “embargo” the report cards and keep them hidden from the public for months, in direct violation of the Open Records Law. DPI didn’t turn over the records it had on the subject, either, so we sued in order to obtain the records.

Wisconsin law requires custodians to respond to record requests “as soon as practicable and without delay.” We sued the Madison Police Department when it delayed responding to a simple record request for over 400 days. It immediately turned over the records.

The Wisconsin Assembly has a policy of printing out electronic records and charging requesters on a per-page basis instead of simply sending the files electronically or putting them on a CD or flash drive. We sued Representative Jonathan Brostoff when he tried to charge us over $3,000 for paper copies of emails, arguing that this practice violates the Open Records Law. He turned over the records, waived charges, and paid us our attorney fees.

The REINS Act requires state agencies to submit proposed regulations to the governor for approval. The Department of Public Instruction has refused to follow that law, so we filed an original action in the supreme court asking it to resolve the issue.