Climate litigation comes to Wisconsin

Wisconsin’s climate is warming. Despite its characterization in some quarters as a “climate haven” and destination for people migrating away from the worst impacts of climate change, the state is not immune to some of those same consequences. Even setting aside the significantly warming temperature here, the effects already include more frequent, intense precipitation events, increased flood risk, and decreased opportunities for winter recreation. Wisconsinites living in the southeastern part of the state will long remember the August 9-10, 2025 rainfall event that hammered some areas with over 14 inches of rain in under 24 hours, leading to widespread flooding. No doubt that was a “1,000-year storm” by reference to past experience. But when it comes to climate, the past is no longer a good guide to the future; indeed, some parts of the state have recently experienced multiple “500-year storms” or “500-year floods” within only a few years of time.

Perhaps it is no coincidence, then, that as the state increasingly feels the effects of climate change, climate law cases are similarly piling up here. From constitutional claims that seek to reform the implementation of energy law in the state, to litigation over the federal government’s efforts to claw back funding for the development of renewable energy resources, Wisconsin has become increasingly involved with legal battles over the climate. Interestingly, one of the cases prominently invokes a constitutional doctrine connected to the state’s water resources.

Dunn v. Public Service Commission. In August 2025, fifteen Wisconsin youth filed suit in the Circuit Court for Dane County alleging that certain Wisconsin statutes “create and perpetuate a fossil fuel-dominated electricity sector,” resulting in climate change-driven injuries to plaintiffs caused by air pollution, extreme weather events, and degradation of Wisconsin’s public trust (water) resources. Plaintiffs assert this amounts to a violation of the Wisconsin Constitution’s guarantees of life, liberty, and “a stable climate system.” That last phrase doesn’t appear in the constitution, but plaintiffs argue that it is inherent in the enumerated rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The case is a cousin of similar youth-led suits filed across the country, including a recent notable success in the Supreme Court of Montana.

The claims involve the work of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC), which is charged with approving the construction of new facilities that will generate electricity in the state. The Dunn plaintiffs allege that one Wisconsin statute unlawfully prohibits the PSC from considering the air pollution these proposed facilities will emit, leading to an artificial bias in favor of electricity generation from fossil fuels rather than renewable resources. A second set of challenged laws, plaintiffs allege, creates an artificial and unlawful ceiling on the amount of renewable energy generation the PSC may require energy providers to supply.

Alternatively – and particularly thought-provoking for those interested in Wisconsin water law – the plaintiffs allege that the same statutes also violate the Wisconsin public trust doctrine by depriving the plaintiffs of “the [constitutionally guaranteed] right to access, enjoy, and use public trust waters.” Over the years I have written several times in this space about the Wisconsin public trust doctrine, including its recent re-solidification after a period of erosion. In short, Wisconsin courts have interpreted Article IX, Section 1 of the state’s constitution to mean that Wisconsin holds its navigable waters in trust for its people, but the courts have had some difficulty operationalizing exactly what that duty requires in terms of day-to-day management of Wisconsin waters. The plaintiffs in Dunn argue that climate-driven damage to Wisconsin water resources enabled by the PSC’s (statutorily mandated) decisions related to electricity generation equates to a breach of the state’s constitutional public trust obligations. If a Wisconsin court accepts that framing, Dunn could become a nationally significant point of climate law evolution.

While Dunn targets the legal architecture of the state’s energy system, another pending case is focused on funding for the development of renewable energy generation in Wisconsin.

Maryland Clean Energy Center, et al. v. United States. Wisconsin (through the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, a public-private entity created in 2011 to replace the former Department of Commerce) has joined other states and organizations suing over EPA’s decision to terminate the “Solar for All” program, which is aimed at improving access to solar energy infrastructure in lower-income and disadvantaged communities. The program was slated to fund about $7 billion in solar projects; Wisconsin would have received over $60 million of that amount. The controversy involves the recent reconciliation law passed in July, which Wisconsin and the other plaintiffs argue only rescinds unobligated balances of the funding, and is not a retroactive repeal of funding already issued under the program. In a related case, EPA has called such claims “hopeless,” arguing that Congress provided reasonable grounds for getting rid of the entire program and its associated funding.

Enbridge Line 5. The Wisconsin-based dispute over the rerouting of Enbridge Line 5, an oil and gas pipeline that crosses northern Wisconsin on its way from Canada to Michigan, is another fossil fuel-related case with national relevance. Litigation over the pipeline, and the fossil fuel resources it transports, is ongoing in several different jurisdictions. In our state, the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has challenged the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ issuance of permits approving a 41-mile new section of the pipeline, arguing that the DNR’s approval fails to comply with Wisconsin’s environmental laws and will damage wetlands and water resources, thereby threatening the Band’s way of life. The case is currently pending before a Wisconsin administrative law judge.

Though Wisconsin isn’t the first state that comes to mind in a conversation about climate risk, the outcome of these cases will be very significant to the development of climate law both within and outside the state.

Continue ReadingClimate litigation comes to Wisconsin

A Shout-Out to Marquette Members of the Annual AALS Pro Bono Honor Roll

The Association of American Law Schools (AALS), through its Pro Bono & Access to Justice Section, will soon release its fourth annual Pro Bono Honor Roll. This national recognition celebrates law students, staff, and faculty for their outstanding contributions to pro bono legal services.

This year, Marquette University Law School is proud to recognize Karli Ring, a second-year law student, Mindy Schroeder, program assistant to the Marquette Volunteer Legal Clinics (MVLC), and Bruce Boyden, associate professor of law. A word of two about their pro bono efforts will help illustrate the broader efforts of the Marquette Law School community.

Karli Ring, a second-year law student, is a reliable presence at the MVLC, often stepping in at the last minute when other students have been unable to cover a shift. This fall, she committed to a standing weekly  shift at the United Community Center, where she helps lead operations. Karli takes on a wide range of responsibilities—setting up clinic space, prescreening clients, identifying legal issues, matching clients with volunteer teams, and making referrals as needed. A U.S. Army veteran (she served as a paratrooper), Karli brings discipline and a deep commitment to public service. She is inclined toward litigation after law school. In the meantime, she remains an essential member of the MVLC team.

Mindy Schroeder is at the heart of the United Community Center branch of the MVLC, one of the busiest clinic sites. Each week, this two-hour clinic serves dozens of clients, nearly half of whom are monolingual Spanish-speakers, and offers help with immigration matters as well as family and civil issues. Mindy oversees the entire operation—coordinating volunteers, managing client flow, and ensuring that every person who walks through the door feels welcome and supported. Her bilingual skills allow her to connect directly with Spanish-speaking clients, while her care for both clients and volunteers creates a positive, professional, and highly efficient environment. Thanks to Mindy’s steady leadership and top-notch style, this fast-paced clinic runs smoothly and remains a trusted resource for the community.

Bruce Boyden has championed the pro bono involvement of both lawyers and law students through his work on the Eastern District of Wisconsin Bar Association’s Pro Bono Committee. As part of this effort, law students assist the committee by reviewing Section 1983 cases, filed by incarcerated individuals, that the court has designated as cases that would especially benefit from the assistance of an attorney. Students review pleadings and discovery and then draft memos summarizing the cases. This work helps committee members evaluate cases as they seek to secure pro bono representation for each such plaintiff.

We extend our sincere congratulations and gratitude to Karli Ring, Mindy Schroeder, and Professor Boyden, along with all members of the Marquette community who seek to “Be The Difference” through pro bono efforts.

Read about past awardees here (2022), here (2023), and here (2024).

Continue ReadingA Shout-Out to Marquette Members of the Annual AALS Pro Bono Honor Roll

Part II: Giorgio Armani’s Fashion Heritage and Cultural Heritage Preservation

The first part of this post reflected on what we can learn about managing fashion legacies from Mr. Armani’s choices shortly before his death. It explored how the Spring/Summer 2026 Armani fashion show indicated Mr. Armani’s control of his fashion heritage alongside of and beyond the Armani brand’s intellectual property rights in the fashion he created. In this second post, I spotlight how Mr. Armani’s decision to display his fashion creations in the Pinacoteca di Brera and in other museum venues was part of a strategy to bypass Italian cultural heritage law’s protectionist ethos, offering the designer and his brand control over the cultural narrative surrounding Armani fashion for the future.

Mr. Armani clearly had safeguarding his fashion legacy in mind over the past few years as he prepared for his brand’s 50th anniversary. As Mr. Armani stated in his last interview, “If what I created 50 years ago is still appreciated by an audience that wasn’t even born at the time, this is the ultimate reward.” Outside of a for-profit fashion industry market that might appreciate Mr. Armani’s fashion as must-have vintage pieces, Mr. Armani’s fashion can be appreciated as part of our common cultural heritage.

Clothing, accessories, and other tangible and intangible products from brands’ pasts can be culturally important to members of the public. These objects can testify to specific moments in time, be historically important, or artistically relevant. The public for whom these objects are culturally important may include a brand’s consumers and more stakeholders within and outside the fashion industry. International and national laws tell us how to treat properties that are culturally important to us. We cannot, for example, destroy “immovable property of great importance to the cultural heritage of every people, such as monuments of architecture, art or history, whether religious or secular” during wartime, absent military necessity. Countries should return “antiquities more than one hundred years old” to other countries that have designated these antiquities as of historical importance. Countries also need to help communities within their borders to identify, document, research, and preserve languages, performing arts, and other social rituals and traditional craftsmanship that a community recognizes as part of its cultural heritage.

Some countries that are known as source nations, like Italy, provide national legal preservation mechanisms for movable and immovable properties, including monuments and antiquities that approximate or are even more stringent than the local preservation regulations we encounter in individual states in the U.S. Public or non-profit museum collections in Italy, like that of the Pinacoteca di Brera, for example, are automatically classified as cultural property under Article 10(2) of Italy’s Code of Cultural Property. This classification is accompanied by an almost perpetual obligation to preserve the collection’s individual tangible properties, through restoration and similar activities. But works of art and other objects of particularly important historic interest, including fashion objects, may also be declared to be cultural properties under Article 10(3) of Italy’s Code of Cultural Property if they are owned by private persons or other for-profit entities. A private individual or for profit corporation, like a fashion brand, may find they have an extensive duty to preserve an object or even an archive they inherit because of a cultural importance that is administratively recognized by the Italian State.

In the United States we primarily tend to define legal duties to preserve movable, tangible works of art based on museums’ institutional duties. While our National Historic Preservation Act applies to mostly immovable objects or movable objects with a strong connection to a place, and we do recognize the importance of archeological artifacts, museum guidelines, from the International Council of Museums’ Code of Ethics to the American Alliance of Museums’ Ethics,  overwhelmingly offer the main best practices and customary norms for museums’ management of movable works of art. The classic comparative example that highlights legal differences between the U.S. as a market nation and Italy as a source nation considers the different options available to an art collector who buys a Da Vinci painting at auction in New York or in Milan. In Milan, the art collector could certainly not set fire to the Da Vinci after buying it, even if she wanted to. Italian cultural property law would make this a crime, even if the collector owned the Da Vinci herself. In New York, on the other hand, providing there are no contractual conditions attached to the Da Vinci as part of the sale, a collector could merrily take the Da Vinci home and burn it in her fireplace as her own personal property.     

As cultural properties, including works of art, become more intangible and reproducible, the reasons to physically preserve works of art become tenuous. Justifications for preservation of a tangible cultural property may morph into an obsession with controlling the symbolic meanings of cultural properties. Italian museums’ control over the reproductions of tangible cultural properties in their collections, like Michelangelo’s David, for example, has come under scrutiny. This scrutiny is especially vibrant since the justification of preserving a tangible property may morph into a mutant copyright that potentially hampers projects that are themselves culturally relevant, albeit at a frontier of commercial and non-commercial endeavors. Why preserve one tangible object that appears in multiples? Why control the reproduction of a tangible object if an unregulated digital reproduction of it can support knowledge and appreciation of the object’s historic importance? Why preserve a tangible sketch by Mr. Armani when we can digitize the sketch and appreciate its cultural importance for fashion history from anywhere in the world?

A sketch by Mr. Armani of a suit for Fall/Winter 1990, now available as part of the Armani/Archivio project

Continue ReadingPart II: Giorgio Armani’s Fashion Heritage and Cultural Heritage Preservation
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