Wisconsin is signed on to more than a dozen multistate lawsuits against actions taken by the Trump administration, and state Attorney General Josh Kaul explained the two factors used to decide when to join such an action. State Rep. Mark Born said the budget process in 2023 showed how Republican legislators could compromise with Gov. Tony Evers, and they’ll look for similar opportunities when writing the 2025-27 budget.
 

Attorney General Josh Kaul
Wisconsin Department of Justice

• The state of Wisconsin under Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, has joined more than a dozen lawsuits against the Trump administration over executive orders by the president and actions by federal agencies. These include lawsuits over authority to administer elections, over cuts to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and in one filed the same day as the interview, over a “national energy emergency” declaration. Attorney General Kaul said it was important for Wisconsin to be a part of these multistate lawsuits because in some cases a favorable ruling only applies to the plaintiffs, meaning states not in the lawsuit don’t see the benefits.
• Kaul: “In some of these cases, we seek nationwide injunctions — so orders that block policies across the country. But in some cases, either we only seek relief in the particular states involved, or the judge decides to only issue relief in those states. So, for example, in the case involving the freeze on federal funding, which would have caused catastrophic effects nationwide if it had gone into effect, right now the order in place in that case only applies in the plaintiff’s states. So because Wisconsin was involved, we’re one of the states that benefits. Now, in addition to that, it’s also important that Wisconsin’s perspective is heard in these cases. If we are not one of the parties to this case, the Wisconsin perspective doesn’t get heard by the court.”

State Rep. Mark Born
R-Beaver Dam

• The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance is getting started on putting together a state budget for the 2025-27 biennium, removing hundreds of items from the proposal put forth by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. As a co-chair of the committee, Rep. Born said its members are also looking at the impact of federal budget cuts on Wisconsin agencies, but the state won’t be able to make up the difference.
• Born: “We will look at everything case by case. If there are things that the state needs to prioritize differently because of adjustments in the federal government we’ll do that. We’ve always done that. We did that over a year ago now when under the previous administration changes were made to VOCA funding for victims of crime. On our last day of session, we put some more money into that program to help make sure that domestic violence shelters and things like that could get through to the next budget cycle. We could talk more about that. So, it’s not unusual for us to have to look at changes at the federal level. We’ll do the same, but there should be no expectation that the state will just fill voids. That’s not realistic. That’s not how the math could possibly work for a state budget.”

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