Supreme Court Sides With Republicans in Case on Wisconsin Redistricting

In a win for Republicans in Wisconsin, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a Wisconsin State Supreme Court ruling and halted Democrat Governor Tony Evers’ redistricting efforts.

The U.S. Supreme Court sided with Republicans in a dispute over voting maps for the state’s legislative districts and sent the Gov. Tony Evers-led redistricting plan back to the state for reconsideration.

Liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented, saying “the court’s action today is unprecedented,” adding that “the court today faults the State Supreme Court for its failure to comply with an obligation that, under existing precedent, is hazy at best.”

The New York Times reported:

“In the case on state legislative districts, lawyers for the Legislature and four voters filed an emergency application to the U.S. Supreme Court that called the governor’s map a 21st-century racial gerrymander, focusing on the fact that it increased the number of State Assembly districts around Milwaukee in which Black voters made up a majority to seven from six. The Legislature’s map dropped the number to five.”

The report added.

“Back in December, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the state’s voting district boundaries should remain intact for a decade.

Democrats argued that current lines were approved by a  Republican-controlled Legislature, signed by a Republican Governor, and drafted to give the GOP a distinct political advantage. 

The recent ruling, however, stated there was no reason for the court to step in because the maps were properly reviewed and approved.

“The existing maps were adopted by the legislature, signed by the governor, and survived judicial review by the federal courts,” the court, said. “Treading further than necessary to remedy their current legal deficiencies…would intrude upon the constitutional prerogatives of the political branches and unsettle the constitutional allocation of power.”

Disgruntled Democrats lament the ruling.

Attorney General Josh Kaul called the court’s decision a “major blow to our freedom.”

Fair Elections Project Director Sachin Chheda said the majority of the court “has once again demonstrated its loyalty is to the Republican Party, not the laws of Wisconsin.”