The Supreme Court of Wisconsin unanimously ruled this week that the Wisconsin Legislature cannot prohibit the Department of Justice (DOJ) from settling civil cases without the approval of the Joint Committee on Finance. In the fall of 2018, the legislature passed and former Gov. Walker (R) signed legislation into law requiring the legislature’s budget-writing committee to sign off on certain settlements to lawsuits. In particular, the law limited the attorney general’s power to settle environmental and consumer protection lawsuits and cases DOJ files on behalf of executive branch agencies.

Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) filed the lawsuit against the legislature, arguing that the law unconstitutionally impeded the DOJ’s ability to reach settlements and that the legislature had overstepped its legal authority by intruding upon core powers of the executive branch. Justice Brian Hagedorn authored the decision with the court unanimously agreeing the law violated the Wisconsin Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine.