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The Brillion News
BALSAM LAKE - The conservative political action law firm WILL, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, on Tuesday, August 25, filed a lawsuit seeking to have Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers' Executive Order #82 struck down as illegal.
The order, issued on July 30, declared a second emergency stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lawsuit was filed in Polk County Circuit Court in Balsam Lake, northwest of Eau Claire.
It says the suit is not about the mask mandate or additional measures to respond to COVID-19.
Instead, the lawsuit reads: "This case is about: (1) whether a Governor may extend an emergency past the 60-day statutory time limit without legislative approval, and (2) whether a Governor may sequentially declare consecutive public health emergencies for the same underlying public health crisis."
The suit seeks to have Executive Order #82 declared void and unconstitutional. It also asks the court to ban enforcement of anything in the order.
In a press release, WILL said "Governor Evers cannot seize emergency powers more than once to address the same crisis. To interpret the law otherwise would all one-person rule by the Governor ... The result would be the total breakdown of our constitutional order."
The lawsuit asks the court to issue a declaratory judgment.
The court will likely seek a response from the governor's office.
Polk County Circuit Court has two branches. Both Judges David Tolan and Jeffery Anderson were initially appointed to the bench by former Governor Scott Walker, a Republican. Evers is a Democrat who beat Walker in the 2018 general election.