Research & Commentary
WILL continues to drive the legal and policy conversations facing Americans in Wisconsin and across the country!
Rick Esenberg
President and General Counsel
2023
- National Review | “Renominating Trump Could Cause a Dangerous Chain Reaction” – August 29, 2023 – Rick Esenberg & Daniel Lennington
- National Review | “How Trump Could Be Saved by the Right to Lie” – August 9, 2023 – Rick Esenberg
- National Review | “The Struggle for Legal Equality Isn’t Over Yet” – July 20, 2023 – Rick Esenberg & Daniel Lennington
2022
- National Review | “Biden’s Student-Loan Action Is Obviously Unconstitutional. So Why Can’t Anyone Stop It?” – October 21, 2022 – Rick Esenberg & Daniel Lennington
- The Federalist | “Another Racist Biden Program Looks To Help Anyone But Whites” – October 10, 2022 – Rick Esenberg & Daniel Lennington
- National Review | “Wisconsin Democrats Abandon the Rule of Law to Protect Abortion” – July 5, 2022 – Rick Esenberg
- Oshkosh Northwestern | “Opinion: WILL represented students in a Title IX investigation by the Kiel School District. We didn’t use the ‘chaos’ to bully anybody.” – June 10, 2022 – Rick Esenberg
- The Wall Street Journal | “The Pronoun Police Come for Middle Schoolers” – May 23, 2022 – Rick Esenberg & Luke Berg
- Oshkosh Northwestern | “The problem that supporters of Roe v. Wade could never solve: There is no right to abortion in the Constitution.” – May 3, 2022 – Rick Esenberg
- National Review | “Why We Must Fight Biden’s Equity Agenda” – April 16, 2022 – Rick Esenberg & Daniel Lennington
2021
- The Federalist | “The ACLU Has It Backward: Schools Should Worry About Being Sued For Teaching Critical Race Theory” – August 12, 2021 – Rick Esenberg
- The Hill | “Act 10 benefited education in Wisconsin — and may empower workers elsewhere” – July 23, 2021 – Rick Esenberg & Will Flanders
- RealClearEducation | “Critical Race Theory Has No Place in American Schools” – June 14, 2021 – Rick Esenberg & Daniel Lennington
- The Cap Times | “Rick Esenberg and Daniel Lennington: Wisconsin’s race-based scholarships amount to state-sponsored race discrimination” – April 29, 2021 – Rick Esenberg & Daniel Lennington
- National Review | “Why ‘Equity’ Is a Bad Fit for Our Legal System” – April 11, 2021 – Rick Esenberg
- The Cap Times | “Rick Esenberg and Daniel Lennington: Evers’ COVID-19 executive orders have highlighted flaws in Wisconsin law” – March 1, 2021 – Rick Esenberg & Daniel Lennington
2020
- Oshkosh Northwestern | “Opinion: I have my issues with Donald Trump. Here’s why I’m sticking with him.” – October 16, 2020 – Rick Esenberg
- Urban Milwaukee | “Legal Group WILL Opposes Pandemic” – September 18, 2020 – Rick Esenberg, Will Flanders, & Don Daughterty
- Wisconsin State Journal | “Rick Esenberg: Gov. Evers’ emergency COVID-19 declaration violates the law” – August 26, 2020 – Rick Esenberg
2019
2018
- Urban Milwaukee | “Liberals All Wrong on Early Voting Law” – December 20, 2018 – Rick Esenberg
- Fox News | “Colleges should stop trying to ‘protect’ students from free speech in violation of the Constitution” – September 13, 2018 – Rick Esenberg
- RealClearEducation | “Trump Should Rescind Obama Guidance on School Discipline” – July 9, 2020 – Rick Esenberg
- Washington Examiner | “What will Janus do? Look at Wisconsin” – July 3, 2018 – Rick Esenberg & Collin Roth
- RealClearPolitics | “Why the Supreme Court Punted in Redistricting Case” – June 19, 2018 – Rick Esenberg
- The Federalist | “The Masterpiece Ruling Is A Win For Free Speech, If Nothing Else” – June 14, 2018 – Rick Esenberg
- The Weekly Standard | “How Opponents of School Choice in Wisconsin Weaponized the Justice Department” – May 16, 2018 – Rick Esenberg & CJ Szafir
- The Federalist | “Marquette Case Will Say Whether Colleges Can Break Contract To Silence Professors” – April 19, 2018 – Rick Esenberg
- RealClearPolitics | “Wis. Judicial Election: Signaling a Blue Wave This Fall?” – April 5, 2018 – Rick Esenberg & Cori Petersen
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | “Donald Trump’s tariffs: Conservatives say they are a bad idea in every way” – March 7, 2018 – Rick Esenberg, Collin Roth, & Eric Bott
- Wisconsin State Journal | Commentary by Rick Esenberg of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty – January 15, 2018 – Rick Esenberg
2017
- Washington Examiner | “On redistricting and Gill v. Whitford, the best course of action for the courts is no action at all” – October 5, 2017 – Rick Esenberg
- National Review | “Wisconsin Voter-ID Study Has Statistical Flaws and Mistaken Assumptions” – September 29, 2017 – Rick Esenberg & Will Flanders
- National Review | “Define ‘Gerrymander’ Precisely: The Supreme Court Tackles the Impossible” – August 22, 2017 – Rick Esenberg
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | “Flanders, Esenberg: Money isn’t the problem facing Wisconsin schools” – July 21, 2017 – Rick Esenberg & Will Flanders
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | “Esenberg: State Supreme Court was right to reject change in recusal rules” – May 1, 2017 – Rick Esenberg
- National Review | “Our Fight for ‘Butter Freedom’” – April 3, 2017 – Rick Esenberg & Jake Curtis
- Right Wisconsin | “Campus Intolerance at Middlebury an Educational Failure” – March 10, 2017 – Rick Esenberg
- Right Wisconsin | “WILL Responds to Wisconsin Supreme Court Ruling in Voces de la Frontera v. David A. Clarke, Jr.” – February 27, 2017 – Rick Esenberg
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | “Esenberg: Principles for a sound immigration policy” – February 24, 2017 – Rick Esenberg
- Right Wisconsin | “Judge Gorsuch will carry on Scalia legacy of textualism, originalism” – January 31, 2017 – Rick Esenberg
- Right Wisconsin | “Response to Three-Judge Panel Order to Legislature to Rewrite District Lines” – January 30, 2017 – Rick Esenberg
Will Flanders, PHD
Research Director
2024
2023
2022
- RealClearEducation | “Education Schools Are Pushing the Classroom Leftward” – September 2, 2022 – Will Flanders & Dylan Palmer
- The Federalist | “Excusing Misbehavior Is Bad For Kids And Schools, But That’s What Biden Admin Wants To Do For ‘Equity’” – July 11, 2022 – Will Flanders
- The Cap Times | “Opinion | Wisconsin not meeting demand for charter schools” – May 21, 2022 – Will Flanders
- RealClearEducation | “New Biden Rules Could Chill Charters” – April 1, 2022 – Will Flanders
2021
- RealClearEducation | “Biden Signals Return to Obama’s Misguided School Discipline Policies” – October 18, 2021 – Will Flanders
- The Cap Times | “Opinion | State needs to reform licensing requirement to address teacher shortage” – September 30, 2021 – Will Flanders & Jessica Holmberg
- Urban Milwaukee | “Poll Shows Democrats Split On School Choice” – August 18, 2021 – Will Flanders & Noah Diekemper
- The Federalist | “Joe Biden Plans To Revive School Rules Punishing Kids According To Skin Color” – May 21, 2021 – Will Flanders
2020
- RealClearEducation | “Will Students Return to Public Schools After the Pandemic?” – December 28, 2020 – Will Flanders & Cori Petersen
- The Hill | “Closing classrooms may cost school districts thousands of students for years to come” – December 28, 2020 – Will Flanders & Ben DeGrow
- The Hill | “Are teachers unions influencing virtual schooling more than pandemic science?” – November 21, 2020 – Will Flanders
- The Cap Times | “Will Flanders: If education is changing, so should the funding.” – October 30, 2020 – Will Flanders
- RealClearEducation | “The High-Performing School Deserts of Rural America” – Septemeber 4, 2020 – Will Flanders
- The Cap Times | “Will Flanders: Families deserve financial support for at-home schooling.” – July 24, 2020 – Will Flanders
- The Hill | “Whatever their intent, protests aren’t exempt from the laws of nature” – July 11, 2020 – Will Flanders
- Urban Milwaukee | “Extend Act 10 to Cover Police” – June 17, 2020 – Will Flanders & Cori Petersen
- The Cap Times | “Will Flanders and Cori Petersen: Extending Act 10 to police unions could make officers more accountable to the public” – June 14, 2020 – Will Flanders & Cori Petersen
- The Cap Times | “Will Flanders: We can ease the hardships of educating during COVID-19 with smart policy” – May 28, 2020 – Will Flanders
2019
2018
- Urban Milwaukee | “More Regulation of School Choice a Mistake” – September 24, 2018 – Will Flanders
- Washington Examiner | “Spending more money on schools doesn’t help students learn” – August 29, 2018 – Will Flanders
- RealClearPolicy | “On Court Pick, Never Trumpers Should Give Trump His Due” – July 8, 2018 – Will Flanders
- RealClearEducation | “The Neglected Challenges of Rural Education” – May 8, 2018 – Will Flanders
- Washington Examiner | “School choice works, but it could work better” – April 18, 2018 – Will Flanders & Cori Petersen
- RealClearEducation | “Education Reform Suffers When Politicians Put Careers Before Kids” – April 10, 2018 – Will Flanders
- NY Daily News | “ The negative effects of Obama’s ‘positive’ school discipline policies” – March 16, 2018 – Will Flanders & Natalie Goodnow
- The Daily Signal | “New Study Finds Some Licensing Laws Do More Harm Than Good” – February 2, 2018 – Will Flanders
- Education Next| “A Story, Not a Study” – February 1, 2018 – Will Flanders & Patrick J. Wolf
2017
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | “Obama school discipline policies hurt Wisconsin kids” – November 27, 2017 – Will Flanders & Natalie Goodnow
- Washington Examiner | “School choice: A path forward out of failure” – November 21, 2017 – Will Flanders
- The Cap Times | “Will Flanders: School choice opponents’ arguments against voucher schools ring hollow” – August 22, 2017 – Will Flanders
- Washington Examiner | “Parental choice is kicking bad schools out of school choice programs” – August 16, 2017 – Will Flanders & Morgan Johnson
- National Review | “School Vouchers Are Not a Form of ‘Welfare” – July 25, 2017 – Will Flanders
- The Federalist | “New Research Reverses Negative Findings About Biggest School Voucher Programs” – July 3, 2017 – Will Flanders & Collin Roth
- The Federalist | “Kids In Rural Areas Need School Choice, Too” – May 31, 2017 – Will Flanders & Collin Roth
- Wisconsin State Journal | “Wisconsin Institute of Law and Liberty: Mark Pocan is flat-out wrong on school choice” – May 30, 2017 – Will Flanders, Libby Sobic, Collin Roth, & CJ Szafir
- The Federalist | “Yes, Scott Walker Did Back Wisconsin’s Economy Away From A Cliff” – May 30, 2017 – Will Flanders & Jake Curtis
- Right Wisconsin | “Celebrating Tommy Thompson and School Choice” – May 24, 2017 – Will Flanders
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | “Flanders, Brannon: Repeal minimum markup law” – May 21, 2017 – Will Flanders
- Right Wisconsin | “NPR’s Claudio Sanchez Teaches Bad Lesson on School Choice” – May 16, 2017 – Will Flanders & CJ Szafir
- Urban Milwaukee | “Rural Areas Need Voucher Schools” – May 4, 2017 – Will Flanders & Collin Roth
- Right Wisconsin | “Five Things Everyone Should Know About the State Budget” – May 2, 2017 – Will Flanders
- Right Wisconsin | “Green Bay Students Would Benefit from Educational Options” – March 22, 2017 – Will Flanders & Collin Roth
- National Review | “New Evidence on School-Choice Successes in Wisconsin” – March 8, 2017 – Will Flanders & Collin Roth
- Right Wisconsin | “Rural Wisconsin Needs School Choice” – February 17, 2017 – Will Flanders
- Right Wisconsin | “Attacks That Opponents of School Choice Will Be Making – Before They Make Them” – February 8, 2017 – Will Flanders, Libby Sobic, & Collin Roth
- Right Wisconsin | “A Debate to Come: Education Funding” – February 6, 2017 – Will Flanders
- Right Wisconsin | “Failure of Federal SIG Program Has Lessons for Wisconsin” – January 26, 2017 – Will Flanders
- Right Wisconsin | “Expanding the School Choice Forward Exam Results” – January 17, 2017 – Will Flanders
- Right Wisconsin | “Overhaul School Funding Formula? Policymakers Should Consider Three Facts First” – January 12, 2017 – Will Flanders
- National Review | “A Word of Caution to the Trump Administration on School Choice” – January 6, 2017 – Will Flanders & Jake Curtis
Dan Lennington
Deputy Counsel
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
Luke Berg
Deputy Counsel
Lucas Vebber
Deputy Counsel
2017
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | “Lucas Vebber: Wetlands legislation is good for Wisconsin” – November 2, 2017 – Lucas Vebber
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | “Curtis, Vebber: Change EPA’s nonsensical rule that hurts Sheboygan County” – July 14, 2017 – Lucas Vebber & Jake Curtis
- Post Crescent | “Municipalities ignore lead pipes, scam taxpayers” – July 28, 2017 – Lucas Vebber
- Marshfield News Herald | “Environmental extremists mislead public” – January 6, 2017 – Lucas Vebber
Cory Brewer
Associate Counsel
Skylar Croy
Associate Counsel
Shannon Whitworth
Bradley Freedom Fellow