The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ordered new legislative maps ahead of the 2024 election, ruling that the current GOP-drawn lines are unconstitutional.
The 4-3 ruling, issued Friday, determined that the current maps do not adhere to the state constitution’s requirement of “contiguous territories” in legislative districts.
“At least 50 of 99 assembly districts and at least 20 of 33 senate districts violate this mandate, rendering them unconstitutional,” the court wrote.
The current districts are based on heavily gerrymandered boundary lines drawn by a GOP-controlled government in 2011. The maps helped shore up the state legislature’s Republican majority in the 2022 election. Wisconsin Republicans currently hold a 64-35 majority in the Assembly and a 22-11 supermajority in the state Senate.
The court will allow the state legislature and Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, to take a first stab at approving new maps. But if they cannot agree — as was the case in 2020, which led to the present-day maps — the court will take over drawing new maps.
Friday’s decision was not unexpected. The court’s ideological balance shifted to the left for the first time in 15 years when Janet Protasiewicz — who had spoken critically of the GOP-drawn maps during her campaign — was sworn in as justice in August. Her judicial race against conservative judge Dan Kelly was the most expensive in U.S. history.
The day after Protasiewicz’s election, Democratic-backed groups filed a challenge against the legislative maps, centered on the argument about contiguity. Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, had threatened to impeach Protasiewicz when she declined to recuse herself from the case, but later backed down.
The three justices who dissented had harsh words for the majority. Justice Rebecca Bradley (who last year characterized a county public health official as a tyrannical dictator for issuing Covid-related mandates) called her fellow justices “handmaidens of the Democratic Party” and accused them of undermining democracy.
They also singled out Protasiewicz’s criticism of the maps during her campaign. “This deal was sealed on election night,” Justice Annette Ziegler wrote in her dissent.
The ruling, which only applies to state legislature maps, has no bearing on congressional races. But some observers say the shift in the balance of political power in Wisconsin, a battleground state in the 2024 presidential election, could have wider implications.