The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled against Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI) in a fight with the state’s Republican legislature, resulting in a decision that restricts the governor’s veto powers.

The court’s justices unanimously struck down Evers’s partial veto of a GOP bill that details $50 million in spending on reading literacy programs for K-12 students. The bill doesn’t allocate any of the money.

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Because the bill is instead a framework for spending, the Wisconsin Supreme Court deemed the Democratic governor’s partial vetoes unconstitutional.

“The constitution gives the governor authority to veto in part only appropriation bills — not bills that are closely related to appropriation bills,” Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote.

The ruling stems from the Wisconsin legislature’s lawsuit against Evers and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. The suit alleged the governor illegally used his partial veto powers.

The court also sided with the legislature’s budget committee’s argument that it retains the authority to set aside money for state programs into an emergency fund, where the $50 million for the literacy programs has been sitting since 2023.

“Nearly $50 million to help improve our kids’ reading has sat unspent in Madison for two years because Republican lawmakers have refused to release it,” Evers said in a statement. “I have spent those two years fighting tirelessly to get Republicans to release those funds, including suing to force them to do so.”

Evers argued the legislature couldn’t withhold the money and demanded the funds be released to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction for immediate use.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to oblige the governor’s request.

Evers criticized the Wisconsin Supreme Court for its “unconscionable” decision, “allowing the Legislature’s indefinite obstruction to go unchecked.”

Evers called on the Republican legislature to release the $50 million in funding for Wisconsin’s literacy programs. The money will be distributed to the state’s general fund if the legislature doesn’t release it by the end of the month.

The Wisconsin Republican co-chairs on the budget committee, state Sen. Howard Marklein and state Rep. Mark Born, said on Wednesday they intend to release the money and blamed the governor’s partial veto for delaying its allocation to public schools.

WISCONSIN CONTINUES TO TURN ITS GOVERNOR INTO AN EMPEROR

“While the Governor wanted to play politics with money earmarked for kids’ reading programs, it is encouraging to see the Court put an end to this game,” state Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu and state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said in a joint statement. “Wisconsin families are the real winners here.”

While Wednesday’s ruling reined in Evers’s veto powers this time around, the Wisconsin Supreme Court previously upheld his veto that secured education funding for the next 400 years.