State ex rel. Wisconsin Senate v. Thompson
Wisconsin Supreme Court
144 Wis. 2d 429, 424 N.W.2d 385 (1988)
- Written by Tammy Boggs, JD
Facts
The Wisconsin legislature passed an omnibus appropriations bill, which, along with appropriations, included other unrelated bits of legislation. Governor Tommy Thompson (defendant) exercised his partial veto power, sometimes striking individual words, letters, and digits from the bill. Certain appropriations were reduced in amount or eliminated entirely. The Wisconsin senate and other Wisconsin parties (collectively, the senate) (plaintiffs) sued Thompson, challenging 37 of the governor’s partial vetoes as invalid. The senate primarily argued that the governor had no constitutional authority to veto individual words, letters, and digits, or to reduce amounts, and that allowing a governor to strike individual letters created a potential for abuse of power.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Heffernan, C.J.)
Concurrence/Dissent (Bablitch, J.)
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