MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The effort to remove Republican Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos from office suffered another legal defeat Tuesday.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has declined, without comment, to hear an appeal of a lower court ruling that rejected an attempt to revive impeachment proceedings led by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
This means that the case must first be heard by a state appellate court before it can proceed.
Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke ruled in July that signatures collected on petitions circulated in an effort to recall Vos had been improperly gathered under legal boundary lines that are now prohibited from use in elections. His ruling came after the Wisconsin Elections Commission also rejected the petition.
Trump supporters had targeted Vos for revocation after he refused to decertify President Joe Biden’s narrow victory in the state. Biden’s victory of about 21,000 votes in 2020 has survived two partial recounts, lawsuits, an independent audit and a review by a conservative law firm.
Fox further angered Trump’s supporters when he did not support a plan to impeach Meagan Wolfe, the state’s top election official.
Those who orchestrated the recall effort originally wanted to force an election in August, a week before the primary. Even if they had succeeded, Vos would only have been recalled from office for the remainder of this calendar year. It is unclear when an election would be held if they were to win in court.
Vos won his primary in August after the other Republican on the ballot withdrew. He will face Democrat Alan Kupsik on Nov. 5. The winner will serve a two-year term beginning in January.
Lawyers for the recall organizers and Vos did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment Tuesday.
Vos is the longest-serving Assembly speaker in Wisconsin history, having held the position since 2013.