Well, howdy there, Internet people, it's Bell again. So today, we're going to talk about a veto

and schools being funded until the year 2425, thanks to the clever use of a partial veto in Wisconsin

and a surprising ruling from the state Supreme Court. First, some background information. The governor of

Wisconsin has one of the most powerful partial vetoes in the country. The veto allows the governor

to veto just bits and pieces of legislation. In July, 23, Governor Tony Evers attempted a novel use of the veto.

He simply vetoed a few numbers and a hyphen in a budget bill.

The original bill provided a funding boost to schools until the 2024-25 school year.

He vetoed the two, the zero, and the hyphen.

So it gave schools the funding boost until the year 2425. At the time, the governor said he wanted to, quote, provide school districts with predictable

long-term increases for the foreseeable future. I don't think many consider 2425 foreseeable.

I'm fairly certain the governor intended it as a method of stressing the importance of school

funding.

Even though by the plain reading of the constitutional text, it was allowed. I doubt there was a large expectation of the

veto being upheld by the Supreme Court. Well, about that word foreseeable. I don't think

anybody foresaw the Supreme Court going with a plain reading of the constitutional text. In a

four to three decision, the bizarre veto was upheld.

I know. Somebody is going to say, but wait, Vanna White vetoes where you just remove letters are

prohibited. That's right. You can't just remove letters. It doesn't say anything about numbers.

The justice writing for the majority wrote, quote,

We are acutely aware that a 400-year modification is both significant and attention-grabbing.

However, our Constitution does not limit the governor's partial veto power based on how much

or how little the partial vetoes change policy, even when that change is considerable.

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