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Welcome to the Friday, Feb. 14, Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Feb. 18 Wisconsin Supreme Court primary nears
- Ballotpedia study finds 44 states do not prohibit delegation of legislative power to agencies
- What’s the Tea?
Our next edition of the Brew will be back in your inboxes on Tuesday. Have a very presidential day on Monday, and enjoy the long weekend!
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Feb. 18 Wisconsin Supreme Court primary nears
Wisconsin voters head to the polls Feb. 18 to cast their ballots in a nonpartisan primary for a seat on the state's Supreme Court.
Incumbent Daniel Kelly, Ed Fallone, and Jill Karofsky are running. Kelly is a member of the court's 5-2 conservative majority. Fallone and Karofsky have each pledged to join the court's liberal minority. Although the race is officially nonpartisan, Kelly has received support from Republican-affiliated groups. Fallone and Karofsky from Democratic-affiliated groups.
- Kelly was appointed to the court in 2016 by then-Gov. Scott Walker (R) to replace David Prosser, who retired.
- Fallone is a law professor at Marquette University who ran for a seat on the court in 2013. He lost to incumbent Justice Patience Roggensack, who is now the court’s chief justice.
- Karofsky is a judge on the Dane County Circuit Court who was elected in 2017.
Karofsky and Fallone have avoided direct criticism of one another. When asked why she and Fallone were not working to promote one another's candidacies, Karofsky responded, "It’s just the way Wisconsin is right now. The chances of both of us making it through the primary are very, very weak. I can’t imagine how that would happen."
A win for either Fallone or Karofsky would reduce the court’s conservative majority to 4-3, meaning control of the court would be at stake during the next election in 2023, assuming no justices leave the bench early. A win for Kelly would preserve the current 5-2 balance, meaning that control of the court will not be at stake until the 2026 election.
The top two finishers in the primary will advance to a general election on April 7. The winner of the general election will begin a 10-year term.
Recent Wisconsin Supreme Court elections have been decided by narrow margins. In the 2019 election, conservative Brian Hagedorn defeated liberal Lisa Neubauer 50.2% to 49.7%. Setting aside the 2017 election (in which the incumbent was unopposed), the widest margin of victory for a Wisconsin Supreme Court election in the past decade was 16 percentage points, when Ann Walsh Bradley defeated James Daly 58.1% to 41.9% in 2015.
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Ballotpedia study finds 44 states do not prohibit delegation of legislative power to agencies
A new Ballotpedia study shows that of all 50 state constitutions and administrative procedure acts (APAs), 44 states—88%—have no prohibition against the delegation of legislative power to agencies.
The nondelegation doctrine is a principle of constitutional law referring to limits placed on transferring legislative authority to the executive branch or to administrative agencies. In other words, lawmakers cannot allow other people to make laws. The doctrine is key to understanding one of the main areas of debate about the nature and scope of the administrative state.
The Ballotpedia survey found that six state APAs—12%—contained prohibitions against the delegation of legislative authority to agencies. Those states are Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. Of the six, North Carolina and Pennsylvania are under divided government, while the remaining four have Republican state government trifectas.
State APAs dictate procedures for state administrative agencies to propose and issue regulations, to adjudicate disputes, and provide for judicial review of agency decisions. Many state APAs are modeled on the federal APA, which governs the administrative processes of federal executive branch agencies. The federal APA was enacted on June 11, 1946.
States have a range of limitations on the delegation of legislative authority. Most state constitutions divide power between branches of government, and some restrict the types of rules administrative agencies can issue using delegated authority.
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Super Tuesday—March 3—is coming up in less than three weeks. At this point in 2016, five notable Republicans were still running.
There are currently eight elected officials and notable public figures running for the Democratic presidential nomination. How many candidates will still be running on March 4?
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Ballotpedia depends on the support of our readers.
The Lucy Burns Institute, publisher of Ballotpedia, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All donations are tax deductible to the extent of the law. Donations to the Lucy Burns Institute or Ballotpedia do not support any candidates or campaigns.
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