U.S. Senate Democrats blocked funding for Homeland Security operations over their demands for stricter accountability for federal agents, particularly in the wake of immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota — Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald of Clyman said those demands will not be approved in the House. Two candidates are vying for an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in the spring 2026 election — Here & Now interviewed each, concluding with state appeals court Judge Chris Taylor.

U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald
R-5th Congressional District

• Stopgap funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ran out at midnight on Feb. 13, starting a partial government shutdown centered on that one agency. Democratic lawmakers are demanding a set of requirements for immigration enforcement agents, including not wearing masks and the use of judicial warrants to enter private homes. Fitzgerald responded to these demands and scope of this partial shutdown.
• Fitzgerald: “I think if you look at the laundry list of things that Sen. Chuck Schumer had rolled out from the Senate, it was kind of dead on arrival in the House. So, there would have had to have been some other type of negotiation. And it appears that the White House did kind of make a run at it, that they were trying to pull together a list that might have been acceptable, but the 10 or so items that the Senate had laid out was not going to happen. So we find ourselves in an unbelievable situation, I think, of the Democrats kind of holding this up again, and a very small government shutdown related to Homeland Security, which makes no sense because ICE is funded. It was funded in the One Big Beautiful Bill. There’s still excess dollars there. Homeland Security says they can operate for months with ICE being able to still accomplish their jobs. But yet you’re shutting down things like the Secret Service, and you’re shutting down TSA at the airports, and you are shutting down the Coast Guard operations. So there’s all these other provisions and parts of Homeland Security that are going to be left unfunded. And they all run out of money at different times. So it’s — this really is the most political move we’ve seen so far, I think, from the Senate Democrats.”

Chris Taylor
Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate

• Two candidates are running in the 2026 race for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat, which means there is no primary and both will go head to head in the April 7 election. With ideological control of the high court not at stake, the contest is less likely to set spending records, but the candidates are once again quite politically distinct. Here & Now senior political reporter Zac Schultz interviewed both, starting with the conservative candidate, Judge Maria Lazar. His next interview was with the liberal candidate, state Court of Appeals District IV Judge Chris Taylor. She spoke about her judicial philosophy.
• Taylor: “Well, in every case, I’m guided by the same things. I’m guided by a desire to do justice for the people who are in front of me. I’m guided by a obligation to apply the law as fairly and as consistently as possible. And then I’m also obligated to hold those who violate the law accountable, regardless of who they are or how powerful they are. So those are really the three principles that guide my decisions in cases.”

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