Dems Delay GOP Bill To Weaken Circuit Judges

Tuesday night, Assembly Democrats delayed a final vote on a Republican bill that would reduce the power of county judges to block laws that they rule unconstitutional.

The plan is aimed squarely at recent decisions by circuit court judges who ruled portions of Act 10 and Wisconsin’s new voter ID law unconstitutional. In both situations, the judges issued injunctions blocking further implementation of the laws while they’re appealed. Under this plan, that power would be all but taken away.

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Burlington) says judges from one county should not be making decisions that affect the rest of the state.

“We restore the balance that had been in Wisconsin for an awful long time – until the last two years – where we see people clearly out of step trying to impose their own judicial philosophy when they can’t win at the statewide ballot box.”

Democrats called the move an unconstitutional abuse of power. They cited a recent memo by the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau that said the bill would likely be challenged in court on the grounds that it violates the Wisconsin Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. Rep. Gary Hebl (D-Sun Prairie) says the Constitution clearly prohibits one branch of government from taking actions that weaken another.

“So for us to think for a second that we have the ability or the power to diminish what the constitution gives to the judiciary is literally insane.”

Republicans say the plan would expedite appeals, though in the case of voter ID, it’s not clear that would have happened. Several times, lawyers for the state have asked appeals courts and the Supreme Court to lift the lower courts’ injunctions blocking voter ID. Each time, the higher courts have declined.