Author

Douglas Poland

Douglas Poland

Douglas Poland is a partner at Stafford Rosenbaum LLP in Madison, where he co-chairs the firm’s Election and Political Law practice group. He is on the Board of Directorst of the Madison Lawyer Chapter of the American Constitution Society. He represented plaintiffs in Baldus v. Brennan and Whitford v. Gill, lawsuits challenging Wisconsin’s current legislative redistricting law. The views expressed here are his own and do not represent those of his firm or clients.

COMMENTARY
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Steve Petteway, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States

Justice Ginsburg’s seat must not be filled before Inauguration Day
By: and - September 25, 2020

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death last Friday left a massive void on the United States Supreme Court. President Trump and the United States Senate must wait to fill that void. Although the President and Senate should follow the precedent set by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his Republican colleagues in 2016, when they refused […]

COMMENTARY
Attorney General Josh Kaul speaks with reporters outside the Supreme Court (photo by Ruth Conniff)

Federal appeals court checks the legislature’s expanding power 
By: and - November 19, 2019

Who speaks for the State of Wisconsin in court? Until recently, the answer has always been the Attorney General. Wisconsin voters elect a chief legal officer every four years. Absent extenuating circumstances, the AG represents the state, its officials, and its departments, agencies, commissions, and councils. When the governor or another executive branch official is […]

COMMENTARY
Wisconsin Constitution

Partial veto is a deliberate check on legislative power
By: and - August 29, 2019

Since 1930, the Wisconsin Constitution has authorized our governors to veto portions of bills that appropriate funds. This broad authority has given all of our modern governors greater power within the legislative process than the President of the United States or other governors have. (Several states allow vetoes of individual line-item appropriations, but few grant […]

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