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How Recent U.S. Supreme Court Rulings Will Be Felt in Wisconsin

The U.S. Supreme Court’s term ended this week, bringing with it decisions on thorny issues that have been on the minds of Madison residents, and in one case, brought a Wisconsin practice to the forefront.

🇺🇸 Birthright Citizenship Ruling Celebrated

A majority on the Court ruled Tuesday that birthright citizenship was guaranteed by the Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment, upholding 150 years of legal precedent and blocking an executive order signed by President Donald Trump the first day of his second term.

Attorneys for the City of Madison and Dane County signed on to a friend-of-the-court brief along with nearly 50 other local governments arguing that revoking birthright citizenship would harm thousands and disrupt communities.

Wisconsin was also among the states that brought a lawsuit seeking to block Trump’s executive order. [WPR]

💸 Ruling Allows National Campaign Finance To Mirror WI

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that political parties can raise and spend as much as they want on campaigns, which will result in sweeping changes to the campaign finance landscape nationwide. But the impacts won’t be felt as much in Wisconsin, since state parties have been allowed to transfer unlimited funds to campaigns for years.

In 2015, Wisconsin’s then-Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-led Legislature overhauled state campaign finance law to allow for unlimited spending, arguing that — unlike political action committees — state parties are subject to public disclosure.

Since the change in Wisconsin, the state held the most expensive judicial race of all time in 2025 where $100 million was spent to elect the next WI Supreme Court justice. [WPR, 🎧 City Cast Madison]

🥎 States May Ban Transgender Girls from Sports

The Tuesday SCOTUS ruling allows states to enact bans limiting trans students from playing on teams that align with their gender identity. This comes after last year’s decision upheld state laws making it illegal for doctors and other health professionals to provide gender-affirming care for minors.

Here in Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill earlier this year seeking to restrict trans athletes from playing on teams that align with their gender identity. So currently, no such ban exists in the state.

Wisconsin’s Legislative Transgender Parent & Nonbinary Advocacy Caucus responded to SCOTUS’s ruling, saying it’s “undoubtedly a setback, but it is not the end of the fight for equality,” and that “no court decision can diminish the dignity, humanity, or worth of transgender people.”

Meanwhile, Wisconsin Family Action applauded the decision, calling it a “tremendous victory for women and girls.” [NPR, WPR, WisPolitics]

🎧 Dig deeper: On today's episode of City Cast Madison, the team digs into these rulings even further. Plus they talk about recent ICE activity in Wisconsin and where to get your fireworks fix this weekend.

🏢 Wonder Bar, Coliseum Bar Could Become Apartments: New developer Range Hill Partners hopes to make way for a seven-story mixed-use building at the site of the two bars on Madison’s South Side. The proposal includes 190 apartments, two levels of parking, and 1,600 square feet of commercial space.

• Deja Vu? This isn’t the first time a developer has come forward with plans for the site. Back in 2021, a proposal called for an 18-story building with apartments and commercial space to replace both buildings. But a grassroots effort to preserve the two bars and general community pushback ultimately led the project to fizzle. [🔒 Wisconsin State Journal]

🛏️ Homeless Shelter To Expand for Women, Kids: The Salvation Army is looking forward to $2 million in grant funding from the state Department of Administration to help fund a new shelter for Madison women and families. Salvation Army staff say they’ve seen more women ages 18-22 and those near retirement age seeking housing stability resources lately. [Cap Times]

🪪 8K Medicaid Recipients Affected By Mismailed Benefits: More than 8,000 Wisconsin Medicaid recipients may have had their personal information exposed after the state sent benefits mailings to outdated addresses in April. The state Department of Health Services notified those affected this week and is offering them free credit monitoring for one year, and answering questions from impacted residents at 833-857-0804. [WPR, DHS]

🚨 ICE Activity in Madison: After reports of federal agents making arrests in Milwaukee over the weekend, immigrant advocacy group Voces de la Frontera posted on Facebook that ICE agents were also sighted on Tuesday in Madison and Fitchburg. The group urged residents to call their hotline if they witness ICE activity: 1-800-427-0213.

• A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said 39 people across the state were arrested over the weekend in “targeted operations” by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. [Wisconsin Watch, Voces de la Frontera]

🎆 Celebrate the Fourth: It’s not the Fourth of July without fireworks! On the City Cast Madison podcast today, executive producer Hayley Sperling, newsletter editor Rob Thomas, and producer Jade Iseri-Ramos share where you can enjoy those patriotic pyrotechnics this weekend!