Democrats urge Wisconsin Supreme Court to overturn Republican-drawn legislative maps

Democrats asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court Tuesday to reverse Republican-drawn maps of legislative districts. Conservative justices questioned the timing of redistricting challenges, while liberals focused their attention on the constitutionality and process of adopting new maps.

The battle is taking place ahead of the election of 2024 in a state that has been a major battleground in recent years. Four of the past six presidential elections were decided by less than 23,000 ballots, and Republicans built up large majorities in their legislature under maps drawn over a decade earlier.

The lawsuit was filed by Democratic voters a day after the court switched to a liberal majority of 4-3 in August. They want to see all 132 lawmakers in the state run for office under new and more favorable maps by 2024.

Rebecca Bradley, a conservative justice from the United States, questioned Democrats’ motives the most and repeatedly referred to newly-elected liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz who said during her campaign the current maps were “rigged”.

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Bradley stated, “Everyone knows that we are here because the court membership changed.”

Mark Gaber from the Campaign Legal Center said that the timing of this lawsuit had nothing whatsoever to do with the outcome of the election. He said that the challenge to whether the districts were unconstitutionally non-contiguous would have been brought regardless of who was on the court.