Patrick Marley and Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Assembly Speaker Robin Vos explains proposed legislation Tuesday as the Assembly meets to vote on a bill that would give the unemployed more benefits, provide insurance protections for those infected with coronavirus and shield health care providers from liability. (Photo: Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) |
MADISON - Republican legislative leaders are planning to ask the conservative-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court to block Gov. Tony Evers' latest order to shut down the economy until late May — deepening the partisan divide over how to battle the coronavirus pandemic.
Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills, co-chairwoman of the Legislature's finance committee, told FOX 6 that legislative Republicans plan to ask the state's highest court to step in and block Evers' order extending stay-at-home until May 26.
"We are going to the Supreme Court," she said. "We have to get Wisconsin back to work."
Darling announced the plan after Assembly Speaker Robin Vos signaled Friday morning he was considering legal action to either curb or block Evers' power to act unilaterally during the coronavirus outbreak.
"We’re angry, we’re frustrated and we’re trying to push back in every way that we can," Vos of Rochester said on WISN-AM (1130).
He said lawmakers would likely have a legal strategy by next week. They want to be sure any lawsuit they bring is legally sound so it doesn't result in a court decision that upholds Evers or increases his powers, Vos said.
"One potential for us would be to say, 'Where in the statutes does it allow the government and especially the people at WEDC or the people at DHS to pick and choose how businesses operate?' That is not part of an order to contain a spread. You cannot say it’s legal for you to buy flowers at a Walmart but it’s not legal for you to buy flowers at a flower shop," he said, referring to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and the state Department of Health Services.
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