MADISON, WI (WTAQ) - The Wisconsin Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether local court commissioners should keep having the authority to approve search warrants.

It’s been almost standard procedure for 30 years to let judicial assistants approve requests by police to search people’s homes-and-possessions.

But a man arrested in a 2008 marijuana case is challenging that power.

Jonas Bednarek, the attorney for defendant Douglas Williams, says the involuntary search of a home is one of government’s most intrusive acts – and it should only be approved by a judge who must account to the voters.

But the state Justice Department says the approvals of search warrants are a quasi-judicial function that can legally be assigned to quote, “a neutral-and-detached magistrate.”

Williams also pointed to a 1977 amendment in which the Constitution no longer mentions the authorization of court commissioners.

The state calls that a creative defense – but if it holds up, it would mean that all the actions those commissioners have made for 34 years would be unconstitutional.

A state appeals court refused to act on the issue, saying it was matter of statewide importance – and the justices should be the ones to decide it.