What We Do
Mission Statement
Through litigation, education, and participation in public discourse, WILL advances the public interest in the rule of law, individual liberty, constitutional government, and a robust civil society.
We litigate, educate and participate in public discourse.
Our case categories include Individual Liberties, Equality Under the Law, Constitutional Government and the Rule of Law, Economic Freedom, and Education Reform. We have prevailed in roughly 80% of the matters we have undertaken. Our General Counsel, Rick Esenberg, has argued more cases in the Wisconsin Supreme Court than any other private lawyer in the state. Our record of winning is indisputable. WILL's winning reputation has allowed us to settle other matters without ever filing a lawsuit. Our track record serves as a disincentive for those who would like to expand government bureaucracy and limit our freedoms. We keep them from even thinking about it.
Free Speech
Workers' Freedom
Open Government
Good Government
Other Individual Rights
Our Record of Winning is Indisputable
WILL's winning reputation has allowed us to settle other matters without ever filing a lawsuit. The other side knows – if we are involved, they are in trouble. Our presence in Wisconsin and our record also serves as a disincentive for those who would like to expand government bureaucracy and limit our freedoms. We keep them from even thinking about it.
Advocating for Freedom
In 2013, WILL recognized a critical need – filling the vacuum for well-researched policy reports on conservative principles. Since then, WILL's policy team continues to provide timely and comprehensive research on proposed policies and bills and their impact on Wisconsin citizens. WILL's policy work is critical to helping advance good public policies and defend against the harmful policies at the local, state, and federal levels.
The goal of our policy work is threefold
Provide well-researched analysis on policy proposals
Arm lawmakers with research and talking points to advance or defend legislation
Participate in the public discourse about policy initiatives
WILL has excelled at meeting these goals. For example, WILL's policy work was used to support Governor Walker and Republican efforts to expand school choice for Wisconsin students with disabilities who were trapped in failing public schools. In 2015, the Special Needs Scholarship Program was established, but the law needed critical updates to remove barriers for students. Our research supported the initiative to amend the program, and in 2017 Governor Walker and Republicans did so.
WILL's policy work also resulted in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) changing the designation of air quality zones in Sheboygan and Door counties. WILL's research explained the impact of the federal designations, particularly its negative impact on businesses. In 2020, the EPA implemented WILL's policy suggestions.
Delivering the Message
A critical component of the WILL mission is communication and public advocacy. Quite simply, we believe in our work, and we are dedicated to making every effort to amplify our research, highlight our litigation, and engage in the public square with clear, principled, and reasonable arguments.
To accomplish this mission, you can find the voices of WILL on your local radio stations or on your local television channel dozens of times each month – weighing in on current events, touting litigation and research, and holding government accountable. We regularly take our arguments to the pages of influential media outlets. Our work has been published or cited in the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, National Review, The Washington Examiner, The Federalist, The Hill, The Daily Caller, and dozens of other outlets, local and national. And with so much going on, we regularly email newsletters and press releases to our supporters.
Principled Support of Country and Community
WILL believes not just in freedom, but also in the richness of community and culture that are the basis of a well-lived life. WILL seeks to further those beliefs by supporting the research, litigation, policy, education, study, defense, and practice of the individual initiative and ordered liberty that leads to prosperity, strong families, and vibrant communities.
The core principles which inform WILL's mission include:
Fidelity to the Constitution, with its principles of limited government, federalism, separation of powers, and individual liberties.
WILL believes that the political system envisioned by America’s founders is unique and extraordinary, and must be preserved “to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” and to give American citizens room to solve problems effectively on their own. WILL stands firmly opposed to forces that would wrest control from individual citizens and instead vest authority in government, especially the national government. WILL also seeks to promote understanding of and respect for America’s democratic system and republican institutions, to support federalism, to uphold the rule of law, to protect the nation’s legal system from efforts to circumvent the Constitutional order, to protect the electoral process, to defend the rights of all individuals to political engagement in accordance with the rule of law, and to protect the basic liberties outlined in the Bill of Rights, including the freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
Commitment to free markets that allow for private enterprise, entrepreneurship, and voluntary exchange within the rule of law.
WILL believes that such an economic system recognizes the dignity and encourages the initiative inherent in all men and women. It further believes that such a system is most likely to result in a prosperous economy that improves the prospects for a good life for all citizens. WILL’s founder and supporters owe much of the success of WILL to a free enterprise system, and WILL works to ensure that this opportunity is available to future generations. WILL thus combats efforts to undermine economic freedom and seeks to protect organizations and projects that conduct research and educate the public and policymakers about the conditions necessary for economic growth and prosperity.
Commitment to the fundamental institutions of civil society that cultivate individuals capable of self-governance.
America has thrived because of the exceptional strength and vitality of its traditional, local institutions—families, schools, churches, neighborhoods, voluntary associations, and arts and cultural institutions—which cultivate individual character, strengthen community bonds, and encourage genuine citizenship. A strong family and religious freedom, in particular, have provided essential support for these character-forming and community-supporting functions that make intrusive government less necessary. WILL believes that these are the institutions most able and likely to guide behaviors, transform lives, and support a free society that is culturally vibrant and intellectually vigorous.
Dedication to the formation of informed and capable citizens.
WILL recognizes that our liberties are secure and will endure only insofar as Americans value and uphold the principles and institutions of American exceptionalism. Therefore, WILL informs and advises educational efforts to give citizens the character, habits, and knowledge needed to succeed in a free society, and WILL works to educate citizens and the government as to the principles, prudence, and institutions that are the basis for such freedoms.