LeMieux v. Evers
The Wisconsin Supreme Court will address the scope of Gov. Tony Evers’s state constitutional authority to approve spending bills passed by the legislature only “in part,” by line-item vetoing other parts. Presented with a 2023 budget bill that approved a two-year increase in school funding limits through the 2024–25 school year, Evers struck the “20” and the dash from references to “2024–25” so that they read “2425.” As altered, the bill increased school funding for 402 years, not 2.
In this lawsuit filed directly with the state high court, taxpayers claim that Evers violated a constitutional amendment that bars the governor from creating “a new word by rejecting individual letters in the words of the enrolled bill.” They assert that the clause’s plain meaning, purpose, and history reflect that “word” and “letter” were meant also to encompass the striking of digits to form a new number. They also argue that Evers has exceeded his power to approve a spending bill partially, because a 402-year period cannot be “part” of the two-year duration the legislature passed. Among other points, the governor responds that the common-sense meaning of “letters” does not include numbers.
Related Commentary
The Wisconsin Governor's Creative Use of Line-Item Veto Extended School Funding by 400 Years
The governor deleted words, numbers, and punctuation from a bill to change its meaning.
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