The Wisconsin Dairy Alliance and the Venture Dairy Cooperative filed a lawsuit against Attorney General Josh Kaul challenging his decision to outsource the environmental litigation work of the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) to an out-of-state special-interest group. The DOJ entered into an agreement with New York University (NYU) to staff an attorney paid and employed by NYU Law’s State Energy and Environmental Impact Center as a special assistant attorney general for environmental litigation in the Wisconsin attorney general’s office.
The lawsuit, filed in Calumet County, argues that the attorney general lacked the authority to enter into this agreement, asserting that it violates constitutional principles by denying due process and equal protection under the law to the groups and their members.
The State Energy and Environmental Impact Center at NYU Law, founded in 2017, receives substantial funding from an organization associated with billionaire Michael Bloomberg, which reportedly advocates policies that can be harmful to farmers. This lawsuit follows a recent ethics complaint regarding the attorney general’s acceptance of an improper gift from a special interest group in the form of a privately funded attorney.
Click here to read the full complaint.
