Wisconsin gerrymandering case likely to end with GOP victory after Supreme Court ruling
MADISON - The U.S. Supreme Court's gerrymandering ruling Thursday will almost certainly halt a lawsuit over Wisconsin's election maps and allow Republicans to keep district lines that have helped them hold large majorities in the Legislature.
A panel of federal judges in 2016 concluded Wisconsin's maps were so pro-Republican as to violate the constitutional rights of Democratic voters. But the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 determined the Democrats who filed the lawsuit hadn't proved they had legal standing to bring it and sent the case back to the lower court.
A new trial was to begin July 15. That will likely be canceled in light of Thursday's ruling from the nation's high court.
"We conclude that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority in the 5-4 decision.
More: Supreme Court says federal courts cannot strike down partisan gerrymandering schemes
All states must draw new legislative and congressional maps every 10 years to account for population shifts. Republicans swept the 2010 elections and were able to use their control of statehouses to draw districts to their advantage in Wisconsin and many other states.
That led to nonstop legal and political fights in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
While Republicans had the upper hand in most states, they found themselves on the losing end in states such as Maryland, leading them to challenge those maps.
The latest decision sprang from cases in North Carolina and Maryland. With the ruling, the Supreme Court found it's up to states — not federal courts — to decide whether mapmakers have gone too far by drawing districts that favor one political party over another.
The court fight in Wisconsin centered on the maps that have been used since 2012. They are scheduled to be used in 2020 and with Thursday's decision that's almost certain to happen.
New maps will have to be drawn for 2022, based on the next census.
RELATED: New election data highlights the ongoing impact of 2011 GOP redistricting in Wisconsin
When the last maps were drawn, Republicans controlled all of Wisconsin's government. Next time, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers will have a chance to act as a check on the districts that GOP lawmakers draw.
Split control of government could lead to compromise on the maps — or, more likely, another round of litigation.
Drawing the maps and the legal fight over them could cost Wisconsin taxpayers more than $3.5 million, according to past bills and legal contracts state officials have signed.
One issue in the Wisconsin case was whether Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester would have to testify.
The panel of judges hearing the case ruled 2-1 in May that Vos had to sit for a deposition, but a panel of judges from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals this month blocked that order and said it would consider the issue after the Supreme Court issued its decisions in the Maryland and North Carolina cases.
Delays pay off for GOP
Republican lawmakers have sought to delay other aspects of the case in what the judges recently called a "reasonable calculated risk."
As the judges put it, the GOP lawmakers "have been willing to push a lot of work into July, in hopes that a Supreme Court decision will moot this case and make it all unnecessary."
That's indeed what happened, so the Republican delay tactics paid off.
The panel hearing the Wisconsin case consists of James Peterson, a district judge in Madison; William Griesbach, a district judge in Green Bay; and Kenneth Ripple, a 7th Circuit appeals judge.
Peterson was appointed by President Barack Obama, Greisbach by President George W. Bush and Ripple by President Ronald Reagan.
Griesbach and Ripple were on the panel that oversaw the 2016 trial. Ripple voted in the majority to strike down the maps and Griesbach dissented.
Voting with Ripple was U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb. She withdrew from the case after the Supreme Court sent it back to the panel and Peterson took her place.
Democrats expressed disappointment in Thursday's decision and said they would try to overhaul the state’s system for redrawing maps. That appears nearly impossible because Republicans like the current system and can easily block attempts to change it.
"Republican efforts to suppress voters, restrict voting rights and rig elections through gerrymandered maps have undermined the will of the people," said a statement from state Senate Democratic Leader Jennifer Shilling.
Rick Esenberg, president of the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, said the decision will mean the end of the Wisconsin case.
"The court acknowledged that partisan redistricting is an inherently political question best left to the people and their elected representatives," he said in a statement.
The legal fight over Wisconsin's maps began in 2011, even before Republican lawmakers approved districts that greatly favored their party. An initial lawsuit resulted in changes to two Assembly districts on Milwaukee's south side after a different panel of federal judges found they violated the voting rights of Latinos.
The latest legal fight began in 2015, when a group of Democratic voters alleged Wisconsin's maps violated their constitutional rights because they were so favorable to Republicans.
Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin gerrymandering case likely to end with GOP victory after Supreme Court ruling
