Appeals court stays out of Wisconsin's voter rolls lawsuit, at least for the time being

Patrick Marley
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - An appeals court will stay out of a case over Wisconsin's voter rolls for the time being.

An Ozaukee County judge last month ordered the state Elections Commission to purge thousands of people from the voter rolls that the commission believes may have moved.

The commission appealed to the District 4 Court of Appeals in Madison, but the conservatives who brought the lawsuit asked the state Supreme Court to take the case instead. The Supreme Court hasn't decided whether it will do so.

The appeals court issued a short ruling Tuesday that said it would not decide motions pending before it while it waits to see whether the Supreme Court will take the case. 

That means it won't decide whether to block the Ozaukee County decision for now.

Those bringing the lawsuit have asked Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Paul Malloy to find the commission and five of its six members in contempt of court because they have not begun removing voters from the rolls. The plaintiffs, represented by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, want Malloy to bill the commission and its members $12,000 a day until they act. 

A hearing over the contempt allegation is scheduled for next week. 

Tuesday's decision was issued by Judges Michael Fitzpatrick, JoAnne Kloppenburg and Jennifer Nashold. No dissents were noted. 

It's the second time the appeals court has declined blocking Malloy's decision.

In response to the decision, Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul on Wednesday asked the state Supreme Court to order the appeals court to act on the request to block Malloy's order.

If the justices don't want to do that, they should block Malloy's order on their own, Kaul wrote in a court filing. 

Kaul asked the high court to issue a decision before Monday's contempt-of-court hearing.

Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.