Wisconsin supreme court weighs fate of top elections official targeted by right

The Wisconsin supreme court heard arguments on Monday in a case that could determine the fate of the state’s top election administrator – a widely respected official who for the past four years has faced intense conspiracy-theory fueled backlash from Trump’s base.

The Wisconsin elections commission administrator, Meagan Wolfe, drew ire in the wake of the 2020 election when pro-Trump activists made her a scapegoat in their false claims of a stolen election. Activists who supported Trump and rejected the results of the election protested against her role on the commission and pressured Republican lawmakers – who had previously appointed Wolfe unanimously to head the WEC – to oust her.

As administrator, Wolfe can offer guidance and expertise to the bipartisan commission, but ultimately serves at their direction.

Related: How a Wisconsin official became ‘a scapegoat’ for voter fraud falsehoods

After Wolfe’s term on the commission concluded in June last year, the three Democrats on the commission abstained from voting on a motion to pass her name along to the state senate for reappointment, deadlocking the vote in anticipation that the senate would reject Wolfe. The six-member commission requires a four-vote majority.

In September 2023, the GOP-controlled state senate took a vote on Wolfe’s appointment despite a previous supreme court ruling that the expiration of a term did not create a vacancy or trigger a new appointment process. In a party-line vote, and with many Democrats in the senate calling the move illegitimate, the senate voted to oust Wolfe – leading to a legal battle over Wolfe’s status as Wisconsin’s top elections official.

In January, a Dane county judge ruled that Wolfe’s ongoing tenure was legitimate, and on Monday, the liberal justices who control the state supreme court by a narrow majority seemed sympathetic.

During oral arguments, Misha Tseytlin, the attorney representing the state senate majority leader, Devin LeMahieu, claimed that by declining to allow for a senate vote on Wolfe’s appointment, Democrats on the elections commission had violated the state statute on WEC appointments.

“They will never send an administrator over to the senate unless the senate promises to confirm them, which is, of course, not the purpose and design of advice and consent,” claimed Tseytlin.

Tseytlin did not ask the court to overturn the court’s 2022 decision to allow appointees to remain in office past the end of their term, instead arguing that Wisconsin’s statute, which states that the commissioner “shall be appointed by a majority of the members of the commission” required the commissioners to advance Wolfe’s appointment to the senate.

The attorney representing the Wisconsin elections commission, Charlotte Gibson, argued that the statute does not require the commission to advance an appointment to the legislature, but merely grants them the authority to do so.

“This role is not a part-time policy making position,” said Gibson. “This is an intense, full-time job requiring expertise and experience, and it just doesn’t work if there are frequent changes in personnel and sudden vacancies.”

If the court agrees that Wolfe lawfully holds her position and that the commission can withhold appointments at their discretion, Wolfe could probably hold office indefinitely – staving off the Republican push to oust her.