Madison, Wisconsin - The Wisconsin Republican Party has stepped in to aid Green Party presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein as she fights off a Democratic legal challenge to her ballot access in the swing state of Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Republicans filed a motion to intervene in a case raised by a Democratic National Committee (DNC) employee before the state Supreme Court. The GOP request cited concerns that the Greens would not be able to secure counsel and mount an adequate response ahead of Friday 5:00 PM deadline.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission approved ballot access for Stein back in February because the Green Party won more than 1% of the vote in a statewide race in 2022.

The DNC's deputy operations director for Wisconsin, David Strange, filed a complaint earlier this month claiming the Green Party is ineligible to appear on the ballot and asking the Wisconsin Elections Commission to remove her. He argued that the Green Party cannot nominate presidential electors because they must be state officers (i.e., members of the state legislature, judges, and others).

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Attorney Angela O'Brien Sharpe dismissed Strange's complaint, saying the commissioners named as respondents could not impartially decide on a matter brought against themselves.

The case was taken to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which on Thursday agreed to a hearing. Justices gave the plaintiff just two hours to provide contact information for the respondents in the case.

Legal representatives for the Wisconsin Green Party have accused the Democratic Party of anti-democratic moves as the 2024 presidential election draws near.

"The Democrat party ('DNC'), presumably based on a belief that they will benefit if the Green Party's presidential candidate does not appear on the ballot, here seeks to keep voters from being able to exercise their right to vote for a candidate of their choice," counsel for the party wrote in a court filing.

"For years, key Democrat voices have derided opponents as undemocratic and 'threats to democracy,' yet it is they who repeatedly petition courts across this nation to remove political rivals from the ballot."

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Stein received more than 31,000 votes in the 2016 presidential election. The 2020 Green Party nominee, Howie Hawkins, did not appear on that year's ballot after the Wisconsin Supreme Court stepped in to block him.

The latest attempt to eject the Greens from the presidential ballot has sparked outrage, including from some members of the state Supreme Court.

"To my knowledge, at no time in history has the court issued orders before the parties had made their appearances," Justice Rebecca Grassl Bradley wrote in the dissenting opinion to the liberal majority.

"The majority steps beyond its neutral role to lawyer the case on behalf of the DNC, seemingly facilitating an expedited review of this original action. Other parties presenting original action petitions have not received such preferential treatment by this court."

The Democratic lawsuit came just days after Stein won the Green Party nomination for president alongside her recently announced running mate, Prof. Butch Ware. It also followed an unsuccessful effort by the Nevada Democratic Party to bar the Greens from the ballot.

Wisconsin's Democratic Governor Tony Evers had filed a motion urging the state Supreme Court to "expeditiously resolve" the question of Stein's ballot status, citing his constitutional responsibility to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed."

The Greens are not taking the challenge lying down. They are fighting back in the courts and at the ballot box.

The state party has responded to the legal debacle by vowing to launch an unprecedented effort to see its candidates in races up and down the ballot.

Environmental activist and water protector Jill Ferguson has already announced a challenge to Evers' governorship in 2026. The incumbent is eligible for a third term but has not yet said whether he will run for reelection.

"After what the unDemocrats are doing to the Green Party ballot line in Wisconsin, we Greens are going to have to start treating them like the spoiled, entitled, children they are," congressional candidate Chester Todd posted on X.

"We Wisconsin Greens will teach them a lesson they will certainly learn from," he warned.