Yearly Archives: 2022

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s state superintendent of schools is jumping to the defense of teachers and schools in the debate over race, gender and sex in the state’s classrooms.

Superintendent Jill Underly wrote an op-ed Wednesday that defends what she calls “welcoming spaces.”

“The way we – as leaders, as community members, as adults – talk about race, or about respecting pronouns, or about including books in libraries that address racism or those with LGBTQ+ characters, have an impact. When the adults in charge – those who make policy, or run for office, or serve on boards – speak negatively and encourage harassment of students with disabilities, or of students because of their gender, immigration status, race, sexuality or gender identity, it makes life harder for students,” Underly wrote. “These are children! And when adults sit passively without calling out these harmful behaviors, they are no different than the bystander who does nothing or says nothing when someone is being bullied or harmed.”

Underly didn’t mention any specific policies or specific adults that she thinks are harming children.

But her op-ed comes just days after Gov. Tony Evers vetoed the Parents Bill of Rights that would have allowed parents to see just what is being taught in their kids’ classrooms, and remove their children from classes that they object to.

Underly’s message also comes as schools in Madison and Eau Claire continue to defend their policies of keeping student gender at school secret from parents.

Underly framed her “welcoming spaces” approach as a life and death issue for students.

“We know that the higher the number of supportive staff members at a school or family members at home, the safer LGBTQ+ students feel and the greater sense of belonging they report. Affirmation matters, and fostering a sense of belonging saves lives,” she wrote.

Underly’s op-ed is 572 words long. She doesn’t use the word "parent" once. She concludes her essay: “This is a moment of reckoning. Our students need affirmation and to be connected to their schools and their communities – in our classrooms and in our state,” she wrote. “I believe we have the collective will to support them the way they need to be supported: with welcome and with belonging.”

(The Center Square) – The U.S. Department of Interior announced it is making only 20% of eligible acreage for oil and natural gas production available for leasing on federal lands to comply with a federal court order.

In his first week in office, President Joe Biden issued an executive order directing new oil and natural gas leases on public lands and waters to be halted by the Interior Department. The agency was also tasked to review existing permits for fossil fuel development.

The administration was sued and last June, a federal judge in Louisiana struck down the executive order. Issuing lease sales, the agency said, was “in compliance with an injunction from the Western District of Louisiana.”

The sales would focus on the “highest and best use of America’s public lands, reflecting an 80 percent reduction from nominated acreage” and “reflects the balanced approach to energy development and management of our nation’s public lands,” the agency said in a news release.

On Friday, the Bureau of Land Management posted notices for significantly reformed onshore lease sales that address “deficiencies in the federal oil and gas leasing program.”

“While we’re glad to see BLM is finally going to announce a sale, the extreme reduction of acreage by 80%, after a year and a quarter without a single sale, is unwarranted and does nothing to show that the administration takes high energy prices seriously,” Western Energy Alliance President Kathleen Sgamma said.

The group, which represents 200 member companies engaged in oil and natural gas exploration and production in the West, sued the Biden administration last year for violating federal law by halting lease sales.

On Monday, the BLM issued final environmental assessments and sale notices for the upcoming oil and gas lease sales. It also increased the royalty rate to 18.75% to “ensure fair return for the American taxpayer and on par with rates charged by states and private landowners.”

House Committee on Natural Resources Chair, Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., said increasing the royalty rate was a good move.

"If we're going to let the fossil fuel industry pocket more of our public lands for drilling, we should at least make sure they're paying a decent price to do it," he said in a statement.

But there’s nothing fair about this for the taxpayer, others argue. The policy will only further depress American production, keep gasoline prices high, and hurt independent oil and gas producers and small businesses, like those represented by Western Energy Alliance.

Small mom and pop companies in the West have been hit hard by the Biden administration’s energy policies, and taxing them after halting lease sales for over a year only adds insult to injury, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said.

The agency’s argument is also flawed because producing on federal lands already costs more than producing on nonfederal lands, critics of the policy argue.

“Raising the royalty rate 50 percent increases the costs of production on federal lands, which already carry a higher cost than nonfederal lands,” Sgamma said. “This increased tax will have the effect of any other tax increase – you get less of what’s taxed, in this case, federal oil and natural gas. At a time when the administration should be increasing production, it continues to introduce new policies that further depress American production and keep gasoline prices high.”

Power The Future Communications Director Larry Behrens said the announcement was a political ploy to “escape blame for soaring gas prices. When these policy peanuts offered by Washington don’t turn around massive gas prices or 40-year high inflation, the President will again try to blame energy workers for not producing enough. You don’t reclaim American energy independence by giving only 20 percent and America’s struggling families will continue to pay the price for Biden’s latest political stunt."

The eligible acreage assessed by the BLM was in Alabama, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming, according to the Department of Interior’s announcement.

It analyzed 646 parcels on roughly 733,000 acres previously nominated for leasing by energy companies. The final sale notices only offer approximately 173 parcels on roughly 144,000 acres, an 80 percent reduction from the acreage originally nominated. Those being offered were already fully analyzed by the BLM at the end of the Trump administration.

Numerous environmental groups have criticized the decision, also pointing out that Biden pledged to halt oil and gas production on federal lands.

"Candidate Biden promised to end new oil and gas leasing on public lands, but President Biden is prioritizing oil executive profits over future generations," Nicole Ghio, with Friends of the Earth, said in a statement.

At a town hall in New Hampshire in 2020, Biden famously said, "no more drilling on federal lands, period. Period, period, period."

The White House has said it intends to fight the litigation in court and remains “committed to addressing the climate crisis.”

(The Center Square) – The U.S. Department of Justice has appealed a federal judge’s ruling overturning the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) mask mandate on planes, trains and in airports.

In her ruling to overturn the mandate, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle called the CDC mandate “unlawful,” saying the Biden administration did not follow proper procedures and went beyond its authority in making the rule.

"But the mandate exceeded the CDC's statutory authority, improperly invoked the good cause exception to notice and comment rulemaking, and failed to adequately explain its decisions," she wrote in her ruling.

The Biden administration challenge comes after the CDC called on the DOJ to file the appeal.

“To protect CDC’s public health authority beyond the ongoing assessment announced last week, CDC has asked DOJ to proceed with an appeal in Health Freedom Defense Fund, Inc., et al., v. Biden, et al,” the CDC said Wednesday. “It is CDC’s continuing assessment that at this time an order requiring masking in the indoor transportation corridor remains necessary for the public health.

“CDC believes this is a lawful order, well within CDC’s legal authority to protect public health,” the agency said.

The mask mandate has been an ongoing point of controversy. While state and local governments around the country have largely lifted their mask requirements, the federal transit mandate remained in place.

The CDC’s comments about its desire to protect its own “public health authority” drew scrutiny as well.

“And yet, in the last two years of masking on planes the CDC has not run a research study to prove (or disprove) masking on planes lessens transmission and improves clinical outcomes,” author and physician Nicole Saphier said. “They are insisting the mask mandates continue ‘just because’ and ‘to maintain their authority.’”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki emphasized the need to protect the federal health agency's authority at a White House Press briefing, saying “for current and future public health crises, we want to preserve that authority for the CDC to have in the future.”

Mizelle, though, said in her ruling the agency never had the authority in the first place. She likened this case to other recent cases where judges ruled that the CDC went too far with its COVID-19 rules.

“Within the past two years, the CDC has found … the authority to shut down the cruise ship industry, stop landlords from evicting tenants who have not paid their rent, and requiring that persons using public conveyances wear masks,” she wrote. “Courts have concluded that the first two of these measures exceeded the CDC’s statutory authority…

“No court has yet ruled on the legality of the third,” she said, adding that “after rigorous statutory analysis” the law “does not authorize the CDC to issue the mask mandate.”

(The Center Square) – No one is going to be completely happy with whatever Wisconsin’s new medical marijuana legislation looks like.

Sen. Mary Felzkowski, R-Irma, the woman driving the new push for medical pot made that promise on Wednesday as she asked marijuana supporters to be patient with lawmakers.

“We’re going to get what we can get. We’re going to pass what we can pass. We’re going to help those we can help,” Felzkowski explained during a hearing at the statehouse. “And then we’ll come back to the drawing table and we’ll move it again.”

Many marijuana supporters in Wisconsin, including a number of Democratic lawmakers, have expressed dissatisfaction with Felzkowski’s proposal.

Her legislation creates a medical marijuana program in the state, but requires a prescription from a doctor, limits the number of conditions for which people can get a medical marijuana prescription, and does not allow people to use marijuana plants for their treatment. Instead the legislation defines medical marijuana as “a liquid, oil, pill, or tincture or in a form that is applied topically.”

“When the medical marijuana bill comes out, it’s not going to be what you want,” Felzkowski told advocates on Wednesday. “It’s not going to be what some other people want. It’s going to go too far for some, and it’s not going to go far enough for others. But it’s what is possible.”

Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, offered the same advice to marijuana supporters, many who want full legalization.

“[The process] doesn’t work the way you think it works,” Taylor added. “How it should be, and how it is are very different.”

But the plea for patience fell on deaf ears with other senators.

Sen. Melissa Agard, D-Madison, who is one of Wisconsin’s strongest marijuana supporters, went on the record opposing Felzkowski’s legislation.

“This bill does not do nearly far enough for cannabis reform or adequately address the harms of cannabis prohibition in Wisconsin,” Agard said. “We cannot settle for half-baked, insufficient legislation that is nothing more than a political ploy to give folks false hope on the prospects of cannabis legalization here in Wisconsin. We must put our efforts behind full cannabis legalization.”

The legislation is not going anywhere, the legislature has adjourned for the year. But Felzkowski is promising a full effort on the plan when lawmakers return to the Capitol next year.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s attorney general said his investigation into clergy sex abuse across the state has resulted in 1,000 calls to his tipline, 204 reports, and one criminal case. But there are some questions the AG is not answering.

Kaul launched his investigation into the Catholic Church in Wisconsin one year ago. On Tuesday, he provided an update on his progress.

“As of April 18, the Wisconsin Department of Justice Clergy and Faith Leader Initiative has received a total of 204 completed reports to the toll-free tip line and the online reporting tool accusing more than 150 individuals of abuse. Over 1,000 calls have been made to or from the tip line, including repeat calls from survivors who remember additional information or are looking for follow up information,” Kaul said in a statement.

Kaul said his office also received what he calls a “significant number of reports from those who had not previously reported to anyone.” But he is not saying just how many reports are included in that “significant number.”

Kaul is also not saying when, where, or who is involved in the complaints.

Kaul’s investigation has been under question since the beginning because of those missing answers.

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee last year refused to cooperate with Kaul’s investigation because the investigation focused solely on Catholitc church abuse cases, many of them dating back decades. And many of which were addressed in a 2015 settlement.

"It seems like the Church could be a model for others to follow and the Attorney General could be investigating ongoing crimes from today, not from decades past," Archbishop Jerome Listecki wrote in an email last June.

Kaul’s Tuesday announcement makes no mention of whether he accused are alive or dead, and he didn’t say which churches are at the center of the complaints.

The only case where charges have been filed is from Waushara County, and dates back to 2009. A man, 33-year-old Remington Jon Nystrom, has been charged with one count of first-degree sexual contact with a child under 13. He was a counselor at a Mount Morris camp at the time. Prosecutors say he improperly touched a sleeping 10-year-old boy. Prosecutors filed those charges back in February. The case has yet to go to trial.

Kaul is not saying what the end-goal of his investigation is. Criminal cases could be hampered by Wisconsin’s law that sets the statue of limitation for victims to ask for charges. In criminal cases victims have to come forward by the time they are 45-years-old. Wisconsin law cuts off the opportunity to sue in a civil case at age 35.

Kaul said his sexual abuse tip line will remain open, and is asking other victims to come forward.

(The Center Square) – Republican lawmakers and conservative groups in Wisconsin are once again upset, but not surprised, at another wave of vetoes from Gov. Tony Evers.

Evers on Friday vetoed 28 pieces of legislation from the Republican-controlled legislature.

That legislation included plans to overhaul Milwaukee Public Schools, expand school choice in the state, make changes to Wisconsin’s unemployment system, and change how election fraud cases in the state are prosecuted.

Evers vetoed all 28 in their entirety.

Republican lawmakers and conservative groups in the state say the governor scuttled some much-needed reforms with this latest round of vetoes.

“I am disappointed that Governor Tony Evers decided to turn his back on businesses in Wisconsin by vetoing a package of bills designed to help people re-enter the workforce, root out Medicaid fraud, and eliminate government barriers to work,” Rep. William Penterman, R-Columbus, said on Friday.

Penterman’s plan would have required people on unemployment to look for work and accept jobs in order to keep their benefits.

Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, who wrote the plan to break-up Milwaukee Public Schools said Evers chose the status quo of failing schools over the chance to improve the lives of thousands of kids in Milwaukee.

“I’m not surprised by the governor’s action,” Darling said, “In an election year, he can’t afford to face the failure he helped create as DPI Secretary and now as governor.”

Evers also vetoed an expansion of the state’s school choice program.

“Because of Governor Evers, the future for children in Wisconsin is less bright today,” said Chris Reader, executive vice president of IRG Action. “Instead of standing with kids and families, he stood with the failed status quo and the education establishment. Now Wisconsin families will not have additional options on where their children go to school, students will not have access to new exceptional courses and materials, and the status quo will continue to perpetuate the failing Milwaukee Public School District.”

The vetoes came one week after Gov. Evers vetoed 43 other pieces of legislation from the Republican-controlled legislature.

Those vetoes covered education and election reforms.

To date, Gov. Evers has vetoed 126 pieces of legislation from Republicans in the past two years alone, more than any other governor in Wisconsin history.

(The Center Square) – Scratch another Wisconsin Republican off the list of possible candidates for governor.

Former Gov. Tommy Thompson on Monday announced he is not running for governor.

“This is a very difficult conclusion,” Thompson said in a statement. “After a full life of service and leading and growing businesses, I know I have the vision, drive and vitality to serve another term as governor. Wisconsin needs strong leadership to bridge political divides, care for our most vulnerable, set our economy on a path to succeed in the 21st-century, and again make us the shining star of the nation. I would have brought those qualities and commitment as governor.”

Thompson served four terms as governor in Wisconsin, he was first elected in 1986. He left the governor’s mansion to serve in the George W. Bush Administration in 2002.

Thompson last ran for office in 2012, when he lost a bid for U.S. Senate.

Thompson most recently was the interim president of the University of Wisconsin System. He left that job earlier this year.

"I am open and will continue to investigate how I may otherwise serve," Thompson added in his announcement.

Thompson is the latest Republican to pass on a run for governor. Madison businessman Eric Hovde declined to get into the race last week, and former northwoods Congressman Sean Duffy opted-out back in January.

Thompson’s decision leaves three Republicans in the race. Former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch is the frontrunner in the polls, followed by veteran and candidate Kevin Nicholson. State Rep. Tim Ramthun, R-Campbellsport, is running on the idea of reversing the 2020 election in the state. He is in a distant third.

The three are headed for a face-off in the primary in August.

(The Center Square) – A federal judge on Monday struck down the Biden administration's controversial mask mandate for planes, airports and trains.

U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle called the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) mandate “unlawful” for overstepping its authority and not following normal rulemaking procedures.

"But the mandate exceeded the CDC's statutory authority, improperly invoked the good cause exception to notice and comment rulemaking, and failed to adequately explain its decisions," she wrote in the ruling.

Critics of the mandate praised the judge’s ruling. They had argued it was not necessary and conflicted with the Biden administration’s decision to lift Title 42, a Trump-era immigration rule that allowed border agents to immediately expel illegal immigrants to slow the spread of COVID into the U.S.

“The federal district judge correctly held that that CDC transportation mask mandate was unlawful and violated the Administrative Procedure Act," Texas Public Policy Foundation Executive Director and General Counsel Rob Henneke said. "The Court’s order vacates the CDC Mask Mandate, which will be effective for all persons nationwide as soon as final judgment is entered by the Clerk of the Court. While the Court’s order stops the mask mandate for now, TPPF’s lawsuit representing Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne continues to litigate the underlying constitutional issues.”

(The Center Square) – Next week’s hearing on a medical marijuana program for the state has already upset many of the Democrats at the Wisconsin Capitol who’ve pushed for legal marijuana in the state for years.

The Senate Committee on Insurance, Licensing and Forestry on Monday scheduled a hearing for SB 1034, which would open a path for Wisconsin to treat marijuana as medicine. That hearing is scheduled for next Wednesday, April 20th.

“In one of the more bold acts of cynicism I've seen in awhile, WI Republicans have scheduled a hearing for their terrible, discriminatory medical cannabis bill – for 4/20 of all days,” Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, said on Twitter on Monday.

420 has been part of marijuana lore for years.

Larson is not alone in failing to find any humor in the scheduled hearing.

“Republicans are all talk and no action when it comes to legalization efforts in Wisconsin,” Sen. Melissa Agard, D-Madison, said Monday.

Agard is perhaps one of the biggest supporters of legal marijuana in the state legislature. She’s been pushing for full legalization for years.

“For the second straight session, legislative Republicans have introduced a late session, politically motivated bill to try and fool the people of Wisconsin into thinking they are genuine about legalization,” Agard said. “Having a public hearing after session has already been gaveled-out is a cynical political ploy that gives people false hope about the prospects of this legislation.”

Wisconsin lawmakers largely wrapped-up their spring session at the end of February. They are not expected to take any substantial action until after November’s election.

Republican Sen. Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, who will lead the hearing said what matters is that Wisconsin is taking its first step toward joining 37 other states in allowing sick people to use marijuana as medicine.

“Whether you think the bill goes too far, or not far enough, what’s important is that we all come together to have an open, honest and respectful discussion about moving this idea forward,” Felzkowski said Monday.

There are 18 states, plus Guam and the District of Columbia that have legalized recreational marijuana. Wisconsin’s neighbors Illinois and Michigan are on that list.

(The Center Square) – President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that his administration will allow a new kind of gasoline to be used nationwide this summer in response to elevated gas prices.

The White House said that the Environmental Protection Agency administrator will allow the use of E15 gasoline, “gasoline that uses a 15 percent ethanol blend,” as a cheaper alternative. The EPA will issue an emergency waiver to allow E15 that will take effect June 1 and end Sept. 15, though the fuel will only be available at a small fraction of gas stations.

"We're not just leaning on our reserves or our allies and partners to help bring down gas prices," Biden said in his remarks in Menlo, Iowa. “We are leaning on you, our farmers, our biofuel refiners.”

The news comes as Americans around the country continue to struggle with higher gas prices. According to AAA, the average national gas price is $4.10, up from $2.86 the same time last year.

Meanwhile, rising inflation has made all kinds of goods and services markedly more expensive since Biden took office.

Federal pricing data released Tuesday showed inflation has risen at the fastest rate in 40 years with energy costs leading the way. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Consumer Price Index, a leading marker of inflation, showing prices increased an additional 1.2% in March, contributing to an 8.5%t rise in the past 12 months.

“Increases in the indexes for gasoline, shelter, and food were the largest contributors to the seasonally adjusted all items increase,” BLS said. “The gasoline index rose 18.3 percent in March and accounted for over half of the all items monthly increase; other energy component indexes also increased. The food index rose 1.0 percent and the food at home index rose 1.5 percent.”

Biden acknowledged those increases and said his plan would help by increasing the fuel supply.

“E15 is about ten cents a gallon cheaper than E10, and some gas stations offer an even [bigger] discount than that,” Biden said. “But many of the gas stations that sell it … are required to stop selling in the summer.”

Critics, though, say Biden’s announcement will lead to an increase in food prices, which have soared and are expected to continue to rise this year. Corn, used to make ethanol, is used in a range of processed foods.

“The Biden administration seems to have forgotten that there is a real threat of a global food shortage due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” said Katie Tubb, an economic expert at the Heritage Foundation. “Countries all over the world, including the U.S., need to identify ways to increase food production. The RFS already leads to crops, such as corn and soy, being planted with an eye toward being used for fuel instead of meeting food (or feed) demand. Now the administration would be making this problem even worse.”

Critics also argue the plan does not address the problem long-term and point out the EPA has stated in the past that fuel waivers “cannot be issued to address concerns regarding the price of fuel.”

“Recent increases in gasoline pump prices are linked to increased crude oil prices and rising geopolitical volatility,” said Ron Chittim, vice president of Downstream Policy at the American Petroleum Institute. “Americans are looking for long-term solutions, not short-term political steps that fail to acknowledge the logistical, legal and compatibility constraints that limit the ability of E15 to influence prices at the pump today. We recognize that E15 will become a bigger piece of the market in the future, but the fact is this fuel is only available at two percent of retail stations.

“The best way to ensure Americans have access to the affordable and reliable energy they need is to promote policies that incentivize U.S. production and send a clear message that America is open for energy investment,” he added.

(The Center Square) – A working paper that examined how U.S. states responded to the COVID-19 pandemic found that states with strict lockdowns and other COVID-19 policies did little to prevent COVID-19 deaths, but those economic restrictions and school closures proved costly in other ways.

"School closures may ultimately prove to be the most costly policy decision of the pandemic era in both economic and mortality terms," University of Chicago economist Casey Mulligan and fellow authors Stephen Moore and Phil Kerpen of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity wrote in the paper.

"One study found that school closures at the end of the previous 2019-2020 school year are associated with 13.8 million years of life lost. An [National Institutes of Health] analysis found that life expectancy for high school graduates is 4 to 6 years longer than high school dropouts," the authors wrote. "The [Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development] estimates that learning losses from pandemic era school closures could cause a 3% decline in lifetime earnings, and that a loss of just one third of a year of learning has a long-term economic impact of $14 trillion."

The report noted that "Unlike mortality or economic outcomes, closing public schools was entirely under the control of policymakers. Almost all private schools were open."

The National Bureau of Economic Research working paper looked at how states fared on health outcomes, economic performance and impact on education. It then ranked the combined performance of all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Utah, Nebraska, Vermont, Montana, South Dakota, Florida, New Hampshire, Maine, Arkansas and Idaho ranked in the top 10. At the bottom were Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Nevada, Maryland, Illinois, California, New Mexico, New York, the District of Columbia and New Jersey.

The authors used unemployment data and gross domestic product to measure economic performance. For education, they used the Burbio cumulative in-person instruction percentage for the complete 2020-2021 school year, with hybrid instruction weighted half. To measure mortality, the authors used two measures: COVID-19-associated deaths reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and all-cause excess mortality.

"The correlation between health and economy scores is essentially zero, which suggests that states that withdrew the most from economic activity did not significantly improve health by doing so," the authors wrote.

One notable exception was Hawaii.

"It ranks last on the economic index and sixth from last on schooling. As of March 2022, it ranks first on health. Understood in the context of island nations such as Australia and New Zealand, the experience of [Hawaii] suggests that island locations can, by sustaining significant economic losses, reduce mortality for a year or more. (Australia and New Zealand saw higher outbreaks in later stages of the virus spread.) Interestingly, Maine opened its schools at almost triple the rate as Hawaii did and was able to achieve a health score almost as high," the authors wrote.

Mulligan, with the University of Chicago Department of Economics, said states that didn't follow CDC guidelines performed better than those that did. More broadly, he said the research shows that federalism worked by allowing states to respond to the pandemic individually.

"It would have been a shame if [former President Donald] Trump had said 'no lockdowns,' " he said.

Federal agencies such as the CDC and U.S. Department of Education should have played more informational roles during the pandemic. In particular, Mulligan said the Department of Education should have gathered data from private schools to share with public schools about best practices for operating safely. The CDC could have done the same.

"Pandemic mortality was greater in states where obesity, diabetes, and old age were more prevalent before the pandemic. Economic activity was less in states that had been intensive in, especially, accommodations and food," the authors concluded. "Still, much residual variation in both mortality and economic activity remains even after controlling for these factors because the 50 states and DC took very different approaches to confronting the COVID-19 pandemic."

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin should soon have an answer about ballot drop boxes and just who can return absentee ballots.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Wednesday morning in the case Richard Teigen v. Wisconsin Elections Commission.

It is the challenge to the Elections Commission’s guidance to local election managers that voters can drop off their ballots, or ballots from other voters at drop boxes.

“[State law] says there are only two ways to return an absentee ballot, you mail it or you deliver it in-person to the clerk. And a drop box is neither of those, which is why they’re not allowed, ” Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty senior counsel Luke Berg told The Center Square. “But the other side says ‘Well, ya know it doesn’t say clearly that you can’t have a drop box.’”

WILL is arguing the case.

Wisconsin has been waiting for a final decision on drop boxes and absentee ballots for months.

A Waukesha County judge back in January ruled drop boxes are not allowed under state law, but the case was appealed and in February the Appeals Court allowed counties and cities to use them during the February primary. The Wisconsin Supreme Court then banned them for the April election, pending their decision in the case.

Though a handful of cities, including Milwaukee, continued to use drop boxes during the April election as well.

Berg said Wednesday’s argument should settle the question once and for all.

“This should be the final decision from the court on both ballot drop boxes and ballot harvesting. We should get an answer on both of those questions,” Berg explained. “Now, the other side has some arguments as to why the court shouldn’t answer those questions now. They say [WILL doesn't] have standing, and we should have gone a different procedural route. But I highly doubt the court will go that route.”

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court has a conservative majority on paper, but swing Justice Brian Hagedorn has often ruled with the court’s liberals. Hagedorn sided with the conservatives on the most recent ballot drop box ruling.

The hearing comes as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on Tuesday that communities handled ballot drop boxes and absentee ballots differently during last week’s election.

The Court’s Ruling could also impact an Election Day challenge from Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, tclaiming Racine’s decision to allow voters to return other people’s ballots essentially disenfranchised some voters in the county.

The high court will hear arguments in the case Wednesday morning.