FIRST ON FOX: A conservative law firm has filed two motions to intervene in separate lawsuits seeking to overturn Wisconsin’s congressional maps, arguing that imposing new districts now would violate federal law and the U.S. Constitution.

Last week, the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority ordered two three-judge panels to take up lawsuits alleging the state’s congressional map gives Republicans an unconstitutional advantage, as redistricting fights intensify nationwide ahead of next year’s midterms.

On behalf of a group of Wisconsin voters, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) filed motions to intervene this week, arguing the challenges are time-barred and that the newly appointed panel does not have the authority to overrule the state Supreme Court’s earlier decision approving the current congressional lines.

“Revisiting congressional lines this way, less than a year before the election, sows irreparable distrust in our country’s political process,” WILL Deputy Counsel Lucas Vebber told Fox News Digital. “We intervened on behalf of several Wisconsin voters to argue that overturning the current maps in this manner and imposing new ones would violate federal law and the U.S. Constitution.”

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WILL’s motions dispute the plaintiffs’ characterizations of Wisconsin’s congressional map as a “partisan gerrymander” or “anti-competitive.”

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“These claims are all meritless,” Vebber said, noting first that any challenge to the current map should have been brought when the map was adopted. “And on the merits, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has already determined that partisan gerrymandering is not a justiciable claim here in Wisconsin.”

Vebber said the lawsuits violate federal law by pushing for districts drawn to reflect statewide partisan totals instead of local representation, and by asking courts to assume a redistricting role the Constitution assigns to state legislatures.

He also argued that a court-ordered “mid-decade redraw” would violate the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution, calling it “precisely what the U.S. Supreme Court has advised state courts not to do.”

According to WILL, these motions represent the fourth and fifth time the conservative law firm has defended Wisconsin’s congressional maps in court.

When the Wisconsin Supreme Court adopted the state’s current congressional map drawn by Gov. Tony Evers, D-Wisc., in 2022 following the 2020 census, WILL said that should have been “the end to the legal and political posturing until the 2030 census.” 

Instead, the group said that various organizations have repeatedly attempted to challenge the map using “a variety of legal theories.”

As redistricting battles continue nationwide, Texas recently filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Supreme Court after a panel of federal judges blocked the state from using its new congressional map, ruling that several districts were “racially gerrymandered.”

Meanwhile, California voters passed Proposition 50 this year, allowing the state to move forward with a new congressional map expected to create up to five Democratic-leaning districts, in what Democrats say is an effort to counter Republican-backed redistricting efforts in states like Texas.

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Missouri and North Carolina have already redrawn congressional lines, and states like Ohio are moving ahead with new maps as redistricting battles play out in courts nationwide ahead of next year’s midterm elections with control of the House and Senate, and Trump’s legislative agenda, hanging in the balance.

The suspect who was federally charged after allegedly lighting a young woman on fire this week on a Chicago Blue Line train was ordered by a judge to remain detained ahead of his trial. 

Lawrence Reed, 50, is charged with committing a terrorist attack or violence against a mass transportation system. Federal prosecutors said Reed intentionally used gasoline and a lighter to set the woman on fire at about 9:30 p.m. Monday.   

“He is simply too dangerous for pre-trial release,” federal prosecutors wrote in a court filing obtained by Fox News ahead of Reed’s detention hearing on Friday. 

“Defendant’s actions and criminal history, as shown below, demonstrate that he is a serious danger to everyone in the community,” the filing added. “The state court system has been unable to contain defendant’s violent crimes, and federal intervention is now needed.

“BLUE CITY SUSPECT WITH NUMEROUS PRIOR ARRESTS FEDERALLY CHARGED AFTER ALLEGEDLY SETTING WOMAN ABLAZE ON TRAIN 

Judge Laura McNally ultimately ordered Reed detained pre-trial, citing his criminal history, the seriousness of the allegations, and the danger he poses to the community. 

During Friday’s hearing, Reed — appearing in a jail jumpsuit and handcuffs — told the judge, “I’m going to represent myself.” 

Prosecutors described the alleged conduct as “horrific and depraved,” saying Victim A was simply “minding her own business” when Reed ignited her. As surveillance images were displayed in court, Reed shook his head, smirked and at one point winked toward apparent family members in the gallery.

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Federal prosecutors said Reed, according to Chicago Police Department records, has been arrested at least 72 times over the last 30 years. 

“At least 15 of those arrests were since 2016, with the most recent occurring in August 2025.  He has approximately 15 convictions, eight of which were for felony offenses including arson, criminal damage to government supported property valued over $500, drug trafficking, drug possession, and a felony traffic offense,” the filing said. 

During Monday’s alleged attack, Reed “was facing charges in the Circuit Court of Cook County for aggravated battery causing great bodily harm after he allegedly struck a person about the head or face area with an open palm while at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, Illinois,” according to the filing.

“Defendant presents a clear danger and persistent threat of terror to the community. Defendant has been leniently treated in state court, including receiving probationary sentences for violent offenses and pre-trial release for a victim-involved crime. In exchange for such lenient treatment, defendant has consistently re-offended and delved further into criminality,” it also said. “Just three months ago, defendant physically attacked someone at MacNeil Hospital, but a judge ordered him released from custody pending trial.  Undeterred, defendant, on Monday, set Victim A on fire.” 

When given the chance to speak on Friday, Reed said he agreed with the government’s request for detention, telling the judge repeatedly: “It’s for my safety. I don’t feel safe out there. . . . I don’t feel safe to society. . . . I’m a target from society.” 

Judge McNally ordered him detained, citing his history, the strength of the evidence and community risk. She also ordered a mental evaluation after Reed told the court he had not taken his medication.

As the hearing concluded, Reed told the judge: “Just make sure I eat. . . . If you want to trial me, you have to feed me.” 

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The judge did not state an explicit next court date during the hearing.

Fox News’ Alexandra Koch contributed to this report. 

Dec. 3 (UPI) — On this date in history:

In 1818, Illinois was admitted as the 21st state in the United States.

In 1833, Oberlin College in Ohio, the first truly coeducational college in the United States, opened with an enrollment of 29 men and 15 women.

In 1929, the Ford Motor Co. raised the pay of its employees from $6 to $7 a day despite the collapse of the U.S. stock market.

In 1967, Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the first successful heart transplant at Cape Town, South Africa.

In 1984, poison gas leaked at a Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal, India, in the world’s worst chemical disaster. Death toll estimates varied widely. Government officials said about 3,000 people died shortly after the leak and many thousands more in the months and years ahead.

In 1989, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declared the Cold War over during a summit in Malta. Some historians believe the Cold War didn’t end until 1991, though, when the Soviet Union collapsed.

In 1992, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to authorize sending a U.S.-led multinational force to Somalia.

In 1997, delegates from 131 countries met in Canada to sign the Convention on the Prohibition, Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines.

In 2006, Hugo Chavez, an outspoken critic of U.S. President George W. Bush and U.S. foreign policy, was re-elected for a third term as president of Venezuela.

File Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI

In 2009, Comcast, the largest cable operator in the United States, bought 51 percent of NBC Universal from General Electric for $13.75 billion.

In 2013, a federal judge ruled that Detroit was eligible for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

In 2015, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced all combat roles in the U.S. armed forces would be opened to women.

In 2017, astronauts on the International Space Station held the first pizza party in space.

In 2024, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, accusing the opposition party of plotting a rebellion against the government. Hours later, the National Assembly voted to lift the declaration, but Yoon’s actions sparked a political crisis with critics accusing him of attempting to impose authoritarianism. Yoon was impeached Dec. 14 and arrested in January on charges of leading an insurrection.

File Photo by Alexandre Brum/UPI

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