The Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a ruling on Friday ordering state lawmakers to redraw legislative maps in the state, a decision likely to benefit Democrats in the battleground state, as a number of states face legal challenges regarding their legislative and electoral map designs.
Key Facts
This ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by a group of Democratic voters in August, just one day after the state Supreme Court flipped to a 4-3 liberal majority, where the plaintiffs claimed that the majority of districts in the state violate a requirement in the state constitution that districts be contiguous.
In her majority opinion, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Jill Karofsky confirmed that the current boundaries “contain non-contiguous lands” and violate the state constitution, as 50 of the legislative assembly districts and 20 of the council districts have separated areas.
According to the Wisconsin State Journal, the legislative maps in Wisconsin favor Republican majorities in both the state Senate and assembly, with Republicans holding a 22-1 majority in the Senate and a 64-35 majority in the assembly.
Despite the Republican majority in both chambers, Wisconsin remains a battleground state in recent presidential elections, having voted for former President Donald Trump in 2016 and for President Joe Biden in 2020, according to a Washington Post report.
In its ruling, the state Supreme Court stated that it would adopt corrective maps before the 2024 elections unless lawmakers could produce maps that comply with state and federal laws and are signed by Democratic Governor Tony Evers.
Regarding the corrective maps, the court stated that these maps “must reflect the least necessary change” to comply with relevant legal requirements.
Main Background
While states are required to redraw congressional district lines every decade based on demographic data from the U.S. Census, tensions have arisen in a few states regarding district lines.
In June, the Supreme Court overturned a redrawn congressional map in Alabama that included a majority-black district, ordering state authorities to redraw the map to include two majority-black districts “or something very similar.” The Republican legislature in the state approved a new electoral map in July that included one majority-black district, although a panel of federal judges struck down that map in September, deeming it to dilute the power of Black voters and not meet protections guaranteed under the federal Voting Rights Act. A federal judge also ordered Georgia in October to redraw its boundaries, ruling that its map discriminated against minority voters and violated the Voting Rights Act. Other legal challenges have been raised in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah. In New York, the state appellate court ordered a redraw of the congressional district map in a move expected to serve the interests of Democrats after the court determined that the map drawn in 2022 was merely temporary.
Surprising Fact
The Wisconsin Supreme Court election in April concluded with the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history, with donors contributing over $50 million, according to a Washington Post report. Although judicial candidates appear on the ballot without a political party, the race was widely viewed as a proxy battle over the political direction of the state. Former Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz won the election on a platform of protecting abortion rights, a key Democratic issue.
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Supreme Court Throws Out Wisconsin Legislative Map That Added Majority Black District
Wisconsin Adopts Legislative Map Reducing Number of Majority Black Districts
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