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The Wisconsin Supreme Court has voted in favor of hearing a lawsuit supported by the Republican-led state Legislature that aims to intervene in redistricting.
In a 4-3 vote, the state’s highest court decided to take a case from the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL).
The court’s majority wrote in the opinion that “redistricting challenges a proper subject for the court’s exercise of original jurisdiction.”
Redistricting is the process of redrawing the state’s political boundaries based on the latest census showing how populations have changed in neighborhoods, cities, and counties since 2010.
“WILL filed its lawsuit on behalf of four Wisconsin voters in August, asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to rule that the state’s constitution requires a new reapportionment plan to be drawn and to enjoin the Wisconsin Elections Commission from administering any election under the state’s current legislative and congressional maps,” the Washington Examiner reported.
“Based on population increases and decreases in different geographic areas, the existing apportionment plans for Wisconsin’s Congressional, State Senate, and State Assembly seat no longer meet the Wisconsin constitutional requirements summarized in the principle of one person, one vote,” the lawsuit said.
“Further, the time for redistricting litigation is so short (especially this cycle with the delay in the completion of the census) that completing both a circuit court action and a Supreme Court review within the available period of time would be extremely difficult,” the lawsuit continued.
Rick Esenberg, director of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, which brought the case, praised the ruling.
“Adopting new state legislative and congressional maps is a state responsibility,” he said. “We are pleased the Wisconsin Supreme Court reaffirmed this longstanding principle and accepted jurisdiction in the event the courts have to act.”
The arguments are virtually identical to a set of arguments made on behalf of Democratic Wisconsin voters in a suit filed on Aug. 14.
“They asked the federal District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin to prepare to intervene if Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and the Republican-led state Legislature failed to agree on a new map. The Legislature opposed that lawsuit, which is progressing through federal court,” the Examiner reported.
“The court also declined to put the case on hold pending redistricting action by the Legislature and governor, as the lawsuit requested, and asked the Legislature to inform it by Oct. 6 about when a new redistricting plan must be ready,” the report added.
Beyond Wisconsin, U.S. House Republicans have laid out their path to winning back the chamber they came close to flipping in 2020.
Republicans need a net gain of 5 seats to regain the House majority in the midterms next November.
House Republicans also have history on their side as they aim to regain the chamber.
The party that controls the White House, which is currently the Democrats, on average loses roughly 25 House seats in the midterm elections.
And the once-in-a-decade redistricting process – pegged to the 2020 census – is expected to generally favor Republicans over Democrats.
Donald Trump recently said it would be an “interesting” idea for him to run for a Florida seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2022.
