Wisconsin Republicans took a page out of Donald Trump’s playbook and tried to grab power from Democrats in state’s capitol. The people of Wisconsin voted out a truly disturbing governor, Scott Walker. Rather than accept the people’s votes, the state Republicans decided to strip the new Democratic Governor Tony Evers of most of his power.
Fortunately, the judicial arm of the government recognized that this was a bad move. Instead, Governor Evers was able to shout out “victory” in his most recent tweet:
‘Today’s ruling is a victory for the people of Wisconsin and for preserving the Wisconsin Constitution.’
A Wisconsin judge temporarily blocked Walker’s laws that would have limited his successor. Remarkably, the Republican-dominated legislature passed the laws in December. They even met in a special session to accomplish this.
The plaintiffs, including the League of Women Voters, Disability Rights Wisconsin, and Black Leaders Organizing for Communities were outraged at the attempt:
‘The Wisconsin Constitution does not provide for the Legislature, let alone a small subset of each chamber acting through committees, to convene itself in an ‘extraordinary session,’ and neither does any statute.’
Dane County (Wisconsin) Circuit Judge Richard Niess blocked these subversive laws, thereby halting the legislature’s request for a temporary pause. Evers responded:
‘The Legislature overplayed its hand by using an unlawful process to accumulate more power for itself and override the will of the people, despite the outcome of last November’s election.’
Twitter world went crazy. Check out some of our favorites below:
