Wisconsin Supreme Court won't let Republicans in Congress offer a second redistricting plan
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MADISON – The Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to let Republican members of Congress submit a second redistricting plan Monday, concluding it wouldn't be fair to let them offer two sets of maps while others can offer only one.
The 4-3 ruling is a minor setback for Republicans who hope to see the court adopt a set of maps that will benefit them at the ballot box. The court's final ruling is likely to remain friendly to Republicans because of the way it is approaching the dispute over maps.
Monday's majority consisted of the court's three liberals and Justice Brian Hagedorn, who was elected in 2019 with the support of Republicans. Hagedorn at times has broken with the conservatives on the court on major issues to side with the liberals.
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States must draw new legislative and congressional maps every decade to make sure they have equal populations. Where the lines go can give tremendous benefits to one political party.
Republicans who control the Legislature and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers failed to agree on maps. That's left it to the courts to decide where to draw the lines for elections this fall.
In an initial decision in November, the court ruled it would make as few changes to the existing maps as possible. That was a major victor for Republicans because they drew the existing maps a decade ago and they greatly benefit their party.
That ruling was also 4-3, but with Hagedorn joining the court's conservatives to say they would make as few changes as possible.
Since then, those involved in the case have submitted maps to the court that would make minimal changes to the current ones.
Republicans in Congress submitted one map to the court and then later offered a backup plan that would make even fewer changes. They asked the court to consider both sets of maps.
Hagedorn and the liberals declined to consider the second set of maps, noting they had said they would accept one set of maps from each party in the case.
"In essence, the Congressmen ask us to accept two congressional maps from them, while accepting only one such map from every other party. This plainly runs afoul of our direction that each party may submit only a single set of maps," the majority wrote.
The majority allowed Evers and another group to make corrections to the maps they had submitted. They said those changes were acceptable because they were effectively replacing one set of maps with another one.
The dissenters contended it wasn't right to let the governor make changes if the court wasn't accepting a second set of maps from the Republican members of Congress.
The majority consisted of Hagedorn and Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, Rebecca Dallet and Jill Karofsky.
The dissenters consisted of Chief Justice Annette Ziegler and Justices Rebecca Bradley and Patience Roggensack. The Bradleys are not related.
The court has signaled it will hold arguments in the case next week and could issue a final decision in the weeks after that.
Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Supreme Court won't let GOP offer 2nd redistricting plan
