by Benjamin Yount
There could be two different court-drawn political maps in Wisconsin. The state’s Supreme Court late Wednesday agreed to take up a redistricting case that could result in the court drawing the state’s new boundaries for Congress and the state legislature.
The decision comes just one day after a federal court in Madison essentially said it would draw the new political map if lawmakers and Gov. Tony Evers can’t agree.
The Supreme Court says the state has the responsibility to draw a new map, which means the state court should handle any disagreements.
“It is primarily the duty of this court, not any federal court, to resolve such redistricting disputes,” Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote in the court’s decision.
The high court’s liberal justices said the Supreme Court should stay out of the redistricting process for as long as it can.
“The majority’s order prematurely injects the court into the political process, risks undermining the court’s independence, and circumvents the statutory process for addressing redistricting challenges,” Justice Rebecca Dallet wrote.
Wisconsin’s lawmakers are supposed to draw the state’s new political map. The governor is then supposed to sign it into law. But because Republicans control Wisconsin’s legislature and the governor is a Democrat, no one expects the two to agree.
Republicans controlled the entire process 10 years ago. The federal court ultimately redrew two Assembly districts during that redistricting process.
Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty President Rick Esenberg said it’s important to allow the process to play out, and to keep it in Wisconsin as opposed to the federal level.
“Adopting new state legislative and congressional maps is a state responsibility,” Esenberg said Wednesday. “We are pleased the Wisconsin Supreme Court reaffirmed this longstanding principle and accepted jurisdiction in the event the courts have to act.”
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Benjamin Yount is a contributor to The Center Square.
Photo “Wisconsin Supreme Court” by Royalbroil. CC BY-SA 3.0.
