Wisconsin Courts Issue Separate Rulings in Evers-Republican Power Disputes

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, has been engaged in a prolonged series of legal disputes with the Republican-controlled state Legislature over the scope of executive branch authority. These disputes span multiple issues, including the administrative rulemaking process and the governor's partial veto power, and have played out in separate court cases over time. In one case, reported by Wisconsin Public Radio on May 8, 2026, a Dane County Circuit Court ruled in favor of Evers, finding that state agencies can publish new rules carrying the force of law regardless of whether GOP-led legislative committees have completed their review. In a separate case, reported by PBS NewsHour on June 25, 2025, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled against Evers, striking down a partial veto he had exercised on a Republican-passed bill. The Supreme Court determined that because the underlying bill was a spending framework that did not itself allocate money, Evers' use of the partial veto on it was unconstitutional. Because these two reports describe different rulings from different courts on different dates involving different legal questions, they do not corroborate a single event; each is supported by only one publisher in the provided materials. The current status of any appeals, further legislative response, or practical effects of either ruling on state government operations is not specified in the available reporting.