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“'The legal standard basically is that a federal officer is immune from state prosecution if their actions were authorized by federal law and necessary and proper to fulfilling their duties,' said Robert Yablon, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School."

"If you're having a hard time keeping up with the latest developments on redistricting in Wisconsin, you're not alone. The issue has been the subject of debate and legal battles for years – and it's once again before the courts as two lawsuits challenging the state's congressional maps move forward."

Amid federal upheaval, myriad important legal and policy developments continue to unfold at the state level. The Essays in this Special Issue were presented at, or grew out of, the fifth annual Public Law in the States Conference hosted by the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School in May 2025.

On September 18th, SDRI co-faculty directors Miriam Seifter and Rob Yablon participated in a panel discussing key laws governing federal vs. state powers, the changing scope of executive powers, and best practices for reporting on political issues like these at the state and local levels.

"The Wisconsin Legislature has spent $26.2 million in taxpayer money on legal fees to private law firms since 2017, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analysis found. Under a Democratic governor and state attorney general, Republican legislative leaders have sought outside counsel to represent the Legislature in a wide range of high-profile legal battles including redistricting, laws passed during the 2018 lame-duck session and Michael Gableman’s failed investigation into the 2020 election."

"In recent years, Wisconsinites have grown accustomed to a new spring tradition: that of the multimillion dollar, record-shattering, nationally scrutinized state Supreme Court race. There’s one of those springtime elections on the books every year through 2030, but exactly who’s running in the next one remains an open question."

"The murky waters of election recounts and challenges in Wisconsin got a little clearer earlier this year. An appeals court ruling upholding a Rock County supervisor’s 3-vote electoral victory ruled in March that absentee ballots cannot be thrown out just because a clerk forgot to initial them. While the ruling doesn’t break any significant new legal ground, it “should provide added clarity for future recounts,” Robert Yablon, a professor at the UW-Madison Law School, wrote in an email to The Badger Project."

"The U.S. Justice Department has sent letters to election officials in at least two key swing states, threatening action against the states if they don’t comply with provisions of a 2002 federal election law."

"The rare prosecution of a sitting judge is teeing up a legal fight over her immunity from criminal charges, and whether the same protections President Donald Trump claimed might apply to judges. Judges have expansive immunity from civil lawsuits over their official acts in court, but have been successfully prosecuted when their conduct crosses criminal lines."

"At a Sunday event on the eve of the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk spoke before registered voters, unapologetic about his controversial offer to pay two of them $1 million to promote his campaign against activist judges."