GOP Votes To Reduce Judges’ Ability To Block Laws

Circuit court judges would be powerless to block laws they find unconstitutional, under a measure that passed the state Assembly last night.

Republicans developed this plan in response to judges in Dane County who issued injunctions blocking key pieces of Wisconsin’s voter ID law and the collective bargaining law known as Act 10. Under this bill, those laws would have remained on the books in their entirety as long as the attorney general filed quick appeals. Only the state Supreme Court would have the power to block them.

Milwaukee Assembly Democrat Chris Sinicki said the move went against the checks and balances envisioned by the founders of the country.

“You know, you are stepping on the rights of the people of the state to question the legislation that you put forward.”

But Big Bend Republican Rep. David Craig, a sponsor of the bill, says the plan would create a fairer system in Wisconsin, and he says he thinks the people of the state would support it.

“What I think the great number of Wisconsinites would agree with is the fact that one judge, elected by one county of the state, shouldn’t be able to upend a piece of legislation.”

The legislature’s own nonpartisan attorneys have warned this bill would likely be challenged in court on the grounds that it violates the state constitution’s separation of powers.

Since this bill was first introduced, one of the circuit court injunctions against the voter ID law was reversed by an appeals court panel. Another remains in place, as does the injunction involving pieces of Act 10.