Good morning.
Sunday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 82. Sunrise is 6:34 and sunset is 7:05, for 12 hours, 32 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 48.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1994, the remainder of the Major League Baseball season is canceled because of a strike.
In August, the Wisconsin Legislature blocked publication of new state regulations. The Evers Administration advanced those regulations after a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling in Tony Evers v. Howard Marklein, 2025 WI 36, No. 2023AP2020-OA (July 8, 2025). The Legislature contended that the Wisconsin Supreme Court decision was narrow, while the Evers Administration contended that the July decision was applicable generally to agency rulemaking.
The Legislature’s block left the Evers Administration with a decision whether to file suit in support of a broader application of the July 8 decision. The Administration has now decided to sue:
The new lawsuit from Evers is the latest in a protracted power struggle with the GOP-controlled Legislature over the technical, but impactful realm of administrative rulemaking.
Evers’ lawsuit argues a July ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court allows state agencies like the Department of Natural Resources or Department of Health Services to seek publication of proposed rules even if Republican-led legislative committees haven’t finished reviewing them. In essence, Evers is claiming that while proposed rules must be submitted to lawmakers for review, his signature is all that’s needed before they can take effect.
While the Legislature writes the laws that govern Wisconsin, agencies like the Department of Natural Resources and Department of Health Services write the rules for how those laws are carried out. For years, those rules went through a lengthy approval process requiring sign off from the governor and various legislative committees.
In July, the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down parts of state law that allowed the Legislature’s Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules to block proposed rules indefinitely.
See Rich Kremer, Gov. Tony Evers sues Wisconsin GOP leaders again in state rulemaking dispute (‘Evers accuses Republican leaders of ignoring a state Supreme Court decision that reduced their power to block administrative rules’), Wisconsin Public Radio, September 12, 2025.
A Wisconsin high court decision in this new lawsuit would affect the balance of power between a new governor and the next legislature.
The Slow Motion Beauty and Skill of an Osprey’s Dive: