Author: Todd Richmond

The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority struck down the state’s 176-year-old abortion ban on July 2, ruling 4-3 that it was superseded by newer state laws regulating the procedure, including statutes that criminalize abortions only after a fetus can survive outside the womb. The ruling came as no surprise given that liberal justices control the court. One of them went so far as promising to uphold abortion rights during her campaign two years ago, and they blasted the ban during oral arguments in November. The statute Wisconsin legislators adopted in 1849, widely interpreted as a near-total ban on abortions,...

Wisconsin Republicans emerged from the November 5 elections with their majority in the state Senate intact and poised to maintain their edge in the Assembly, despite new district boundaries that Democrats had hoped would give them a chance at finally making major inroads in both chambers. Voters also approved a GOP-authored constitutional amendment that bars foreign nationals from voting in Wisconsin. Here is a look at what was at stake for the Legislature and the Republican-authored constitutional amendment designed to ensure only U.S. citizens can vote in Wisconsin: WISCONSIN LEGISLATURE Republicans seized control of both the Assembly and the...

Exemptions that allow religious organizations to avoid paying Wisconsin’s unemployment tax do not apply to a Catholic charitable organization because its on-the-ground operations are not primarily religious, a divided state Supreme Court ruled in March. The outcome of the case, which drew attention and concern from religious groups around the country, raises the bar for all religions to show that their charity arms deserve such exemptions in the state. The Catholic organization’s attorneys immediately promised to appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. If that court agrees to hear the case, any ruling could have broad national implications. The...

Lake sturgeon do not need Endangered Species Act protections, federal wildlife officials announced in April, saying that stocking programs have helped the prehistoric fish return to areas where they had vanished. The decision ends the Arizona-based Center of Biological Diversity’s petition filed in May 2018 asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list lake sturgeon as endangered or threatened. Such listings would make harvesting the fish illegal, but without them, popular sturgeon harvest seasons in states such as Wisconsin and Michigan can continue. The center argued that overharvesting and deteriorating habitat have “severely depleted” the species. Dams block...