In a late Friday news dump, Wisconsin Republicans introduced a sweeping series of power-grabbing proposals they plan to advance in a lame-duck session with little debate this week before Republican Gov. Scott Walker leaves office and Democrat Tony Evers is sworn in next month. Republicans maintained a solid grip on the legislature in 2018’s elections thanks to their aggressive gerrymanders, but Evers will be able to veto GOP legislation as soon as he takes office. That’s why Republicans are scrambling to usurp as much of his executive powers as possible before January and may even vote on these bills as soon as Tuesday.
Campaign Action
The GOP's proposals include taking away key powers from Evers and Democratic Attorney General-elect Josh Kaul; slashing the availability of in-person early voting; and tampering with the 2020 presidential primary date in an effort to boost the election chances of a hard-right state Supreme Court appointee whose race could determine control of the court. Republicans had previously tried to cut early voting as part of a series of voter suppression measures only to see a federal court strike the effort down in 2016 for intentionally discriminating against black voters, but the GOP remains undeterred.
Republicans want to strip Evers of the power to appoint members to important boards and state agencies, stop him from increasing accountability over the way the state doles out tax breaks and incentives to businesses, and prevent him from banning guns in the state capitol. They further plan to empower the GOP legislative majority to intervene in lawsuits now that Evers and Kaul are unlikely to defend the state when other GOP power grabs, like gerrymandering or voter suppression, are challenged. That would ensure they have standing to sue or appeal in any case they don’t like—and make the taxpayers pay their legal bills. Relatedly, they also aim to curtail Kaul’s discretion over how to spend money from court settlements.
Knowing that the courts are a key bulwark against their efforts to undermine the rule of law, the GOP intends to move the 2020 presidential primary from April to an earlier date in order to help conservative Justice Daniel Kelly win a full 10-year term. That could boost Kelly, who defended GOP gerrymandering before becoming a judge, by ensuring he won’t face a higher-turnout electorate, when Democrats may vote in larger numbers since the party’s presidential primary is likely to be hotly contested.
In fact, Republicans even admitted that this was their motivation despite the added cost to taxpayers and bipartisan opposition from local election clerks, who don’t want the burden of holding a separate election. But Republicans hold a four-to-three majority on the court, and if Democrats hold one of their open seats next spring and defeat Kelly in 2020, they would gain a majority that could curtail gerrymandering and voter suppression. That’s why the GOP is acting so desperately—and not even trying to hide it.
The peaceful transfer of power after losing an election is one of the cornerstones of representative democracy, but Republicans in both Wisconsin and Michigan are now following the trail that North Carolina Republicans blazed after losing the governorship in 2016. And of course, these lame-duck changes come only after Republicans lost elections for governor, not during the many preceding years when the GOP had unfettered control over the levers of power in each state.
Gaining a majority on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court remains one of Democrats' best hopes for stopping these undemocratic power grabs, which makes the GOP's efforts to unfairly lock down their hold on the court even more concerning. Indeed, a Democratic high court has helped save North Carolina from becoming a banana republic, as the judicial branch has repeatedly struck down the GOP's efforts to usurp the governor's powers there.