Wisconsin residents who want to sue state government will no longer have to travel to Madison. Governor Scott Walker has signed into law a bill that allows court cases where the state is the sole defendant to be filed in any of Wisconsin’s 72 counties.
Those cases currently must be filed in Dane County, but Walker says citizens should not have to travel to file a grievance against state government.
Republicans have long criticized the filing requirement as unfair because only residents of Dane County elect the judges, and many of the cases can have a major impact on the rest of Wisconsin.
Opponents of the law argue it will only encourage court shopping, with lawsuits being filed in counties where judges could be more supportive of a particular viewpoint.
