Wisconsin Supreme Court Reviews Election Map Challenge

– The Wisconsin state Supreme Court is currently considering a bid to overturn the state’s legislative maps, which are reported to favor Republicans. The Law Forward firm brought the challenge straight to the Supreme Court, bypassing lower courts. They are asking for the district’s legislative districts to be declared unconstitutional and for new maps to be drawn up by mid-March 2024 based on “traditional redistricting criteria” and state law.
– The case is being heard by a newly constituted liberal majority in the Supreme Court. The current maps are said to heavily favor Republicans, with 63 of the 99 Assembly seats and 23 of the 33 Senate seats leaning toward the GOP. If the lawsuit is successful, it will force named senators to run in new districts in a special election in 2024 for a new two-year term, despite being in the middle of a four-year term.
– The lawsuit is being contested by the state’s conservative justices, who argue that the challenge is a “collateral attack” on a previous state Supreme Court ruling on the state’s voting maps. The lawsuit has been brought by 19 Wisconsin residents, and involves the Wisconsin Elections Commission and state senators representing odd-numbered districts, among others. The final ruling will be determined by the state Supreme Court, which has a newly constituted liberal majority.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Reviews Partisan Electoral Maps

The fate of Wisconsin’s electoral maps, criticized for favoring Republicans, now lies in the hands of the state Supreme Court’s newly constituted liberal majority. Liberal-leaning law firm, Law Forward, brought the legal challenge directly to the Supreme Court in August for rapid resolution ahead of the 2024 elections.

The attorneys for the plaintiffs are urging justices to declare the state’s legislative districts unconstitutional and order the drawing of new maps by mid-March 2024 based on “traditional redistricting criteria”. They argued that the remedy “cannot be a partisan gerrymander in intent or in effect”.

Conservative justices expressed reservations about the challenge and questioning why the court should revisit the issue just two years after a previous case. “Everybody knows that the reason we’re here is because there was a change in the membership of the court,” commented conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley.

The lawsuit, brought by 19 Wisconsin residents, challenges a set of maps vetoed by Gov. Tony Evers in 2021, that the state Supreme Court adopted, alleging violation of separation of powers rules. It also contends that the maps violate the state’s Constitution because some districts include disconnected pieces of land.

Wisconsin’s electoral maps are “unsalvageable” and “infected” with partisan bias, Democratic voters and Evers’ attorneys argued in court filings. The Wisconsin Elections Commission and state senators representing odd-numbered districts are named as respondents in the lawsuit. Additional parties, including Evers, have intervened.

The challenge relies on a legal remedy known as a writ of quo warranto, which can be used to challenge a lawmaker’s right to hold office. If successful, it will force the named senators to run in new districts in a special election in 2024 for a new two-year term.

The current maps heavily favour Republicans, with 63 of the 99 Assembly seats and 23 of the 33 Senate seats leaning towards the GOP, according to a 2021 analysis by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, has mentioned considering impeachment, an option that could be pursued by the Assembly if Justice Protasiewicz did not recuse herself from redistricting cases. Protasiewicz declared that she would not step away from the case.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission has stated that new maps for next year’s elections must be in place by March 15, 2024.

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