Case Title: Tommy G. Thompson v. Warner Jackson

Citation: 

Docket Number: 1995AP002153-OA

State: wisconsin

Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court

Date: 1996-03-29T00:00:00Z

Document:
NOTICE 
This opinion is subject to further 
editing and modification.  The final 
version will appear in the bound 
volume of the official reports.   
 
 
 
 
No.  95-2153-OA 
 
STATE OF WISCONSIN             :                IN SUPREME COURT 
                                                                   
 
 
State of Wisconsin ex rel. Tommy G.  
Thompson, Governor, State of Wisconsin, 
   
        Petitioner,  
 
John T. Benson, State Superintendent of 
Public Instruction, Wisconsin Department of 
Public Instruction and James E. Doyle, 
Attorney General,   
 
        Necessary-Parties,  
 
Marquelle Miller, Cynthia Miller, Angela  
Gray, Zachery Gray, Shon Richardson, George  
Richardson, Latrisha Henry, Faye Henry,  
Reigne Barrett, Valerie Barrett, Candice  
Williams, Senton Williams, Clintrai Giles,  
Sharon Giles, Parents for School Choice, 
Pilar Gonzalez, Dinah Cooley, Julie Vogel, 
Kate Helsper, Blong Yang, Gail Crockett, 
Yolanda Lassiter and Jeanine Knox,   
 
        Necessary-Parties-Intervening-  
        Petitioners,  
 
Rep. Annette Polly Williams,   
 
        Intervenor-Petitioner,  
 
         v.  
 
Warner Jackson, Jennifer Evans, Wendell  
Harris, The Reverend Andrew Kennedy, Rabbi  
Issac Serotta, Ceilann Libber, Father Thomas  
J. Mueller, Reverend John N. Gregg, Diane  
Brewer, Colleen Beaman, Mary Morris, Penny  
Morse, Kathleen Jones, Philip Jones,  
Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association,  
by its President, M. Charles Howard, Michael  
Langyel, Donald Lucier, Tracy Adams,  
 
 
FILED 
 
 MAR 29, 1996 
 
 
 Marilyn L. Graves 
  
Clerk of Supreme Court 
  
Madison, WI  
 
No. 95-2153-OA 
 
 
 
2 
Milwaukee Public Schools Administrators and  
Supervisors Council, Inc., by its Executive  
Director, Carl A. Gobel, People for the  
American Way, by its Executive Vice  
President and Legal Director, Elliott M.  
Mincberg, John Drew, Susan Endress, Richard 
Riley, Jeanette Robertson, Vincent Knox,  
Bertha Zamudio, James Johnson, Robert  
Ullman and Sally F. Mills,   
 
        Respondents.  
  
 
 
                                                                 
  
 
PER CURIAM.    The court is equally divided.  Chief Justice 
Day, Justice Abrahamson and Justice Bablitch believe that the 
amendments to the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) are 
contrary to art. 1, § 18 and art. X, § 3 of the Wisconsin 
Constitution.
1 
 
Justice Steinmetz, Justice Wilcox and Justice Geske believe, 
based both upon the legislation before us and the stipulated 
facts, that respondents have not met the burden to prove beyond a 
reasonable doubt that the legislative amendments to MPCP violate 
the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. 
Const., art. I, § 18 of the Wis. Const., art. X, § 3 of the Wis. 
Const. or Wisconsin's Public Purpose Doctrine.
2  
                     
     
1Because these three justices would hold the expanded MPCP 
program unconstitutional under the Wisconsin Constitution, they 
would not reach the issue of whether it should also be found 
unconstitutional under the United States Constitution. 
     
2The original program withstood challenges brought on a 
variety of state constitutional bases in Davis v.Grover, 166 Wis. 
2d 501, 512, 480 N.W.2d 460 (1992), in part because the majority 
of this court concluded that the program was experimental in 
 
No. 95-2153-OA 
 
 
 
3 
 
A majority of the participating judges must agree on a 
particular point for it to be considered the opinion of the court. 
 State v. Elam, 195 Wis. 2d 683, 685, 538 N.W.2d 249 (1995).  
Conversely, when the court splits evenly, as is the case here, the 
court would ordinarily affirm the court of appeals' decision if 
the case was before the court on appeal, or remand to the court of 
appeals for further proceedings if the case was before the court 
on a bypass or certification.  Id. at 684-85.  This case, however, 
is not before the court on appeal, bypass or certification but 
rather as an original action pursuant to a petition for removal 
from the Dane County Circuit Court.   
 
Accordingly, the stay of proceedings pending in the Dane 
County Circuit Court is lifted; the preliminary injunction 
enjoining all portions of the amended MPCP is continued until 
further order of the Dane County Circuit Court; and the original 
(..continued) 
nature and served to advance the goal of improving "the quality of 
education in Wisconsin for children of low-income families."  
Justices Steinmetz, Wilcox and Geske believe that while the 
legislature has chosen to expand the program in the amendments 
challenged here, the program is still limited and experimental 
and, under the stipulated facts, remains inoffensive to the 
dictates of the United States Constitution, the Wisconsin 
Constitution and the Wisconsin Public Purpose Doctrine. 
 
No. 95-2153-OA 
 
 
 
4 
action proceeding pending before this court is dismissed without 
prejudice. 
 
ANN WALSH BRADLEY, J., did not participate.       
    
 
No. 95-2153-OA 
 
 
 
 
SUPREME COURT OF WISCONSIN 
 
                                                              
 
Case No.: 
 
95-2153-OA 
                                                              
 
Complete Title 
of Case: 
 
 
 
 
State of Wisconsin ex rel. Tommy G. Thompson, 
 
 
 
Governor, State of Wisconsin, 
 
 
 
 
Petitioner, 
 
 
 
John T. Benson, State Superintendent of Public 
 
 
 
Instruction, Wisconsin Department of Public  
 
 
 
Instruction and James E. Doyle, Attorney General, 
 
 
 
 
Necessary-Parties, 
 
 
 
Marquelle Miller, Cynthia Miller, Angela Gray,  
 
 
 
Zachery Gray, Shon Richardson, George Richardson,  
  
 
 
Latrisha Henry, Faye Henry, Reigne Barrett, 
 
 
 
Valerie Barrett, Candice Williams, Senton Williams 
 
 
 
Clintrai Giles, Sharon Giles, Parents for School 
 
 
 
Schoice, Pilar Gonzalez, Dinah Cooley, Julie Vogel, 
 
 
 
Kate Helsper, Blong Yang, Gail Crockett, Yolanda 
 
 
 
Lassiter and Jeanine Knox, 
 
 
 
 
Necessary-Partiies-Intervening-Petitoners, 
 
 
 
Rep. Annette Polly Williams, 
 
 
 
 
Intervenor-Petitioner, 
 
 
 
 
v. 
 
 
 
Warner Jackson, Jennifer Evans, Wendell Harris, The 
 
 
 
Reverend Andrew Kennedy, Rabbi Issac Serotta, 
 
 
 
Ceilann Libber, Father Thomas J. Mueller, Reverend 
 
 
 
John N. Gregg, Diane Brewer, Colleen Beaman,  
 
 
 
Mary Morris, Penny Morse, Kathleen Jones, Philip 
 
 
 
Jones, Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association, 
 
 
 
by its President, M. Charles Howard, Michael 
 
 
 
Langyel, Donald Lucier, Tracy Adams, Milwaukee 
 
 
 
Public Schools Administrators and Supervisors 
 
 
 
Council, Inc., by its Executive Director, Carl A. 
 
 
 
Gobel, People for the American Way, by its  
 
 
 
Executive Vice President and Legal Director,  
 
 
 
Elliott M. Mincberg, John Drew, Susan Endress, 
 
 
 
Richard Riley, Jeanette Robertson, Vincent Knox, 
 
 
 
Bertha Zamudio, James Johnson, Robert Ullman and 
 
 
 
Sally Mills, 
 
 
 
 
Respondents. 
 
 
 
_________________________________________________ 
 
 
 
 
ORIGINAL ACTION 
 
 
 
 
                                                              
 
Opinion Filed:  
March 29, 1996 
Submitted on Briefs: 
 
Oral Argument: 
February 27, 1996 
 
 
No. 95-2153-OA 
 
 
                                                              
 
Source of APPEAL 
 
COURT: 
Circuit 
 
COUNTY: 
DANE 
 
JUDGE: 
PAUL B. HIGGINBOTHAM 
 
                                                              
 
JUSTICES: 
 
 
Concurred: 
 
 
Dissented: 
 
 
Not Participating: 
BRADLEY, J., did not participate 
                                                              
 
ATTORNEYS:  
For the petitioner there were briefs by Edward S. 
Marion and Murphy & Desmond, S.C., Madison and Kenneth Starr, Jay 
P. Lefkowitz, Paul D. Clement and Kirkland & Ellis, Washington, 
D.C. and oral argument by Kenneth Starr. 
 
 
For the necessary parties the cause was submitted on the 
briefs by Warren D. Weinstein, assistant attorney general, with 
whom on the briefs was James E. Doyle, attorney general. 
 
 
For necessary parties, Marquelle Miller, et al., there were 
briefs by Lauren Brown-Perry, Madison and Mark J. Bredemeier, 
Janice S. O'Brien and Landmark Legal Foundation, Kansas City, MO 
and oral argument by Mark J. Bredemeier. 
 
 
For necessary parties, Parents for School Choice, et al., 
there were briefs by Michael D. Dean, Milwaukee and William H. 
Mellor, III, Clint Bolick and Institute for Justice, Washington, 
D.C. and oral argument by Clint Bolick. 
 
 
For the respondents there was a brief by Jeffrey J. Kassel, 
Melanie E. Cohen and LaFollette & Sinykin, Madison; Steven K. 
Green and Americans United For Separation of Church and State, 
Washington, D.C.; Peter M. Koneazny and American Civil Liberties 
Unition of Wisconsin Founation, Inc., Milwaukee; Steven R. Shapiro 
and American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York, NY and 
oral argument by Jeffrey J. Kassel. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
For respondents, Milwaukee Teachers Education Association, et 
al, there was a brief by Richard Perry, Richard Saks and Perry, 
Lerner & Quindell, Milwaukee; Robert H. Chanin, John M. West and 
 
No. 95-2153-OA 
 
 
Bredhoff & Kaiser, P.L.L.C., Washington D.C.; Bruce Meredith, 
Chris Galinat 
and 
Wisconsin 
Education 
Association Council, 
Madison; Elliot M. Mincberg, Judith Schaeffer and People for the 
American Way Action Fund, Washington D.C. and Timothy Hawks and 
Shneidman, Myers, Dowling & Blumenfield, Milwaukee and oral 
argument by Robert H. Chanin.   
 
 
Amicus curiae brief was filed by Steven J. Schooler and 
Lawton & Cates, S.C., Madison for the Board of Church and Society 
and Chancellor, Wisconsin Annual Conference of the United 
Methodist Church. 
 
 
Amicus curiae brief was filed by Alex Flynn and Alex Flynn & 
Associates, S.C., Milwaukee and Mark E. Chopko, John A. Liekweg 
and U.S. Catholic Conference, Washington, D.C. for the Archdiocese 
of Milwaukee and United States Catholic Conference. 
 
 
Amicus curiae brief was filed by Grant F. Langley, city 
attorney, Susan D. Bickert, Roxane L. Crawford, assistant city 
attorneys, Milwaukee for the Board of School Directors of the City 
of Milwaukee. 
 
 
Amicus curiae brief was filed by Michael L. Williams and 
Haynes and Boone, L.L.P., Fort Worth, TX, for the Center for New 
Black Leadership. 
 
 
Amicus curiae brief was filed by William H. Lynch and Law 
Offices of William H. Lynch and James Hall and Hall, Patterson & 
Charne, all of Milwaukee for the National Association for the 
Advancement of Colored People. 
 
 
Amicus curiae brief was filed by Gordon E. McQuillen and 
Cullen, Weston, Pines & Bach, Madison and David B. Isbell, 
Johnathan E. Mansfield and Covington & Burling, Washington, D.C. 
for the National Committee for Public Education & Religious 
Liberty. 
 
 
 
 
Amicus curiae brief was filed by Steven P. Means and Michael, 
Best & Friedrich, Madison and Keith A. Fournier, Jay Alan Sekulow, 
John P. Tuskey, James M. Henderson and The American Center for Law 
& Justice, Washington, D.C. for the Family Life Project of the 
American Center for Law. 
 
 
Amicus curiae brief was filed by Michael P. May, Mark J. 
Steichen, M. Tess O'Brien-Heinzen and Boardman, Suhr, Curry & 
Field, Madison for the Wisconsin Interfaith Impact of the 
Wisconsin Conference of Churches. 
 
 
Amicus curiae brief was filed by H. Yvonne Vinkemulder, 
Madison and Steven T. McFarland, Gregory S. Baylor, Annandale, VA 
 
No. 95-2153-OA 
 
 
and, of counsel, Thomas C. Berg, Birmingham, AL for the Christian 
Legal Society, Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist 
Convention and National Association of Evangelicals.    
 
 
Amicus curiae brief was filed by Bradden C. Backer and 
Godfrey & Kahn, S.C., and Robert L. Gordon and Weiss, Berzowski, 
Brady & Donahue, all of Milwaukee, for the Milwaukee Jewish 
Council 
for 
Community 
Relations 
and 
the 
Wisconsin 
Jewish 
Conference. 
 
 
Amicus curiae brief was filed by Michael J. Julka, Franck C. 
Sutherland and Lathrop & Clark, Madison for the Wisconsin 
Association of School Boards, Inc. 
 
 
Amicus curiae brief was filed by Michael J. Bachhuber, 
Milwaukee for Progressive Milwaukee. 
 
 
Amicus curiae brief was filed by Jeffrey Spitzer-Resnick, 
Madison for the Wisconsin Coalition for Advocacy, Inc.