- A consultant hired by the Wisconsin Supreme Court identified the Republican Legislature and conservative law firm’s map as a partisan gerrymander.
- The consultants focused on important criteria for map improvement, including political neutrality, compactness, continuity, and preservation of communities of interest.
- Wisconsin is a battleground state where Republicans control the Legislature and faces significant political repercussions despite Democratic wins in the statewide election.
Consultants hired by the Wisconsin Supreme Court to study the redrawing of state legislative district maps said Thursday that the plan submitted by the Republican Legislature and a conservative law firm is partisan gerrymandering, but that four other He said that he was unable to declare the two maps constitutional.
Jonathan Servas of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and Bernard Grofman of the University of California, Irvine argue that only the courts can decide whether any of the four plans by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Democratic lawmakers are constitutional. It is written that only. .
The consultants wrote that any of these maps could be improved based on criteria deemed important by the court, such as political neutrality, compactness, continuity, and preservation of communities of interest.
Wisconsin Republicans would maintain a majority on proposed legislation, but their advantage would decline
They declined to draw their own map, but said they could do so soon if directed by the court.
The Wisconsin State Capitol on October 10, 2012 in Madison, Wisconsin. Consultants hired by the Wisconsin Supreme Court to study the state’s redrawn congressional district maps said Thursday that the plan submitted by the Republican Legislature and a conservative law firm is partisan gerrymandering. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer, File)
The political stakes are huge in the battleground state, where Republicans have held firm control of the Legislature since 2011, despite Democratic victories in statewide elections, including the 2018 and 2022 gubernatorial races. Four of the past six presidential winners in Wisconsin have been decided. Less than a percentage point.
Evers welcomed the report as confirmation that Republican maps are gerrymandered.
“The days of Wisconsinites living under the most gerrymandered map in the nation are over,” Evers said in a statement. “While this is just one step in this process, today is an important day for the people of Wisconsin, and we need a map that is fair, responsive, and reflects the will of the people.”
Under the map, which was first enacted by Republicans in 2011 and then re-enacted with minor changes in 2022, Republicans have tightened their grip on Congress and over the past five years have seen key policies by Evers and Democrats. efforts have been largely thwarted.
The victory of a liberal candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court last year, who claimed that the current Republican map was “rigged,” led to the conclusion that the map is unconstitutional because the districts are not contiguous, as required by law. This paved the way for the court’s December ruling.
The court ordered new maps to be drawn that include contiguous districts, but also said they should not favor one political party over the other. Republicans have indicated they plan to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, alleging due process violations, but it’s unclear when that will happen.
Consultants reviewed map proposals submitted by Mr. Evers and fellow Democrats, Republicans and academics that would reduce the Republican majority in the House, 64-35, and in the Senate, 22-10.
Consultants on Thursday called the map from the Legislature and the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty a “partisan gerrymander.” The Congressional map remained virtually unchanged from its current boundaries.
The consultants rejected Republicans’ claims that their majority in Congress was due to Democrats’ concentrated support in urban areas, while Republicans have broad support in a broader geographic area.
“This isolation from the power of electoral change is a hallmark of gerrymandering,” they write. “Simply put, geography is not destiny.”
Servas and Grofman wrote that the four Democratic maps are similar by most measures and “almost indistinguishable” from a “social science perspective.”
Rick Essenberg, president of the law firm whose map was deemed a partisan gerrymander, slammed the consultant’s findings.
“The report hides its bias behind a fog of false sophistry,” Esenberg said in a statement. “Let’s be clear: Our map was rejected for one reason only: It doesn’t produce the partisan results that many experts and many on the court hope to see.”
The final decision on which map to enact will rest with the Wisconsin Supreme Court, where liberals hold a 4-3 majority. The State Board of Elections said this must be completed by March 15 to meet the fall deadline for candidates to run.
Evers on Tuesday vetoed a last-ditch effort by Republicans to enact a new provision to circumvent the court’s map order. Republicans largely adopted Evers’ maps, but changed some lines to reduce the number of Republican incumbents they would have to run against in new districts.
Wisconsin rushes to approve new legal map
Evers rejected the move, calling it another attempt by Republicans to gerrymander districts to their advantage.
Most of the new proposed maps would leave Republicans with a majority in Congress, but the gap would narrow significantly, judging by an analysis by Marquette University researchers.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court is also being asked by Democrats to hear a challenge to the state’s congressional district lines. The lawsuit argues that the court’s decision to order new state legislative maps opens the door for challenges to the congressional maps. Republicans hold five of the eight seats in the state Legislature.
The move in Wisconsin comes amid ongoing litigation in more than a dozen states over the U.S. House of Representatives and state legislative districts established after the 2020 census.
