High court rejects Vos request to halt deposition
2 other courts refused to cancel questioning over open records law
MADISON – The Wisconsin Supreme Court slammed down Assembly Speaker Robin Vos' attempt to avoid a deposition late Tuesday, setting the stage for him to take questions under oath Wednesday over whether he has followed the state's open records law.
It was the third court defeat for the Rochester Republican in a little over 24 hours as he sought to avoid answering questions from the liberal group American Oversight as it seeks records of a partisan review of the 2020 election.
The high court in a 4-3 ruling threw out Vos' last-minute request to cancel his deposition just hours after he made it. The majority consisted of the court's three liberals and Justice Brian Hagedorn, who was elected in 2019 with the support of Republicans.
It's the latest instance of Hagedorn splitting with the court's other conservatives on politically charged issues.
Vos is slated to take questions just hours before he is scheduled to begin headlining a two-day fundraiser in Key West, Florida, for the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee.
Vos faced his first setback last week, when Dane County Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn ruled that he and staff attorney Steve Fawcett would have to sit for depositions about how they responded to records requests and a court order.
Vos asked the District 3 Court of Appeals to keep him from having to sit for the deposition. Monday, the appeals court unanimously declined to do that, saying Vos hadn't shown any harm he would suffer by answering questions.
On Tuesday, Bailey-Rihn again ruled in favor of the deposition, saying she would not stay her earlier decision.
“These open records (requests) have been pending for months; thus, additional delay may cause harm in the way of documents being destroyed or becoming stale,” Bailey-Rihn wrote.
“As the Court has stated, the citizens of Wisconsin, all of them, deserve open government.”
Within hours, Vos asked the state Supreme Court to intervene. He contended American Oversight could not depose him at this stage of the lawsuit.
“It would be unduly burdensome and a substantial injury for Vos and his counsel to be subjected to depositions in this matter when discovery cannot be justified in the first instance,” Vos' attorney, Ronald Stadler, wrote in his filing to the high court.
Stadler acknowledged Vos might not possess some records because lawmakers are not required to keep the public documents they generate.
Vos last summer hired former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman to look into the 2020 election. Vos and other Assembly Republicans said they wanted the review even though recounts and courts have found Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in Wisconsin by about 21,000 votes.
Vos gave Gableman a taxpayerfunded budget of $676,000. They have released some records about their secretive review while holding back others.
American Oversight won a ruling from Bailey-Rihn in November requiring Vos to turn over more documents. The group maintains Vos hasn't produced all the records he should and has asked Bailey-Rihn to find Vos in contempt of court.