Wisconsin

Wisconsin lawsuit asks new liberal-controlled Supreme Court to toss Republican-drawn maps

Published

1 year ago

August 2, 2023

Wisconsin lawsuit asks new liberal-controlled Supreme Court to toss Republican-drawn maps

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A lawsuit filed Wednesday asks Wisconsin’s newly liberal-controlled state Supreme Court to throw out Republican-drawn legislative maps as unconstitutional, the latest legal challenge of many nationwide that could upset political boundary lines before the 2024 election.

The long-promised action is backed by Democrats and was filed by a coalition of law firms and voting rights advocacy groups. It comes the day after the Wisconsin Supreme Court flipped from a conservative to liberal majority, with the start of the term of a justice who said that the Republican maps were “rigged” and should be reviewed.

“Despite the fact that our legislative branch is meant to be the most directly representative of the people, the gerrymandered maps have divided our communities, preventing fair representation,” said Jeff Mandell, board president of Law Forward, one of the groups that brought the lawsuit.

The lawsuit asks that all 132 state lawmakers, including senators who were not scheduled to be on the ballot in 2024, be up for election that year in newly drawn districts.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said Democrats were “counting on judicial fiat to help them gain power.” He accused them of “coming to collect” from the newly elected liberal Supreme Court justice.

The Wisconsin lawsuit is just one of many expected or pending court challenges that could force lawmakers or special commissions to draw yet another set of maps before the 2024 election. In one of the most recent examples, Alabama lawmakers passed new congressional districts last month after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that its districts violated federal law by diluting the voting strength of Black residents. Voting rights advocates are challenging the new map as well, contending it still falls short.

All states were required to redraw voting district boundaries after the 2020 census. In states where one political party controlled that process, mapmakers often sought to create an advantage for their party by packing opponents’ voters into a few districts or spreading them among multiple districts — a process known as gerrymandering.

The latest challenge asks the Wisconsin Supreme Court to take the case directly, rather than have it work through lower courts, arguing that the state legislative maps are an unconstitutional gerrymander. Notably, the lawsuit does not challenge the congressional maps.

Dan Lenz, an attorney at Law Forward, did not rule out a future challenge to the congressional maps, saying targeting the legislative maps is a “first step.”

The petition filed with the Supreme Court argues that the current maps unconstitutionally retaliate against some voters based on their viewpoint and free speech; create non-contiguous districts that include scattered fragments of detached territory; treat some voters worse than others based on their political views and where they live; and violate the promise of a free government.

It also argues that by enacting maps that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed, that Supreme Court violated the state’s separation of powers principle and the governor’s constitutional authority to veto bills.

It would be up to the court to decide how new maps would be drawn and who would submit them, Mandell said.

Evers praised the lawsuit.

“Today’s filing is great news for our democracy and for the people of our state whose demands for fair maps and a nonpartisan redistricting process have gone repeatedly ignored by their legislators for years,” Evers said in a statement.

In addition to Law Forward, others who brought the lawsuit on behalf of Wisconsin voters are the Stafford Rosenbaum law firm, Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School, Campaign Legal Center, and the Arnold & Porter law firm.

In 2021, the conservative-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court decided that it would adopt maps that had the least amount of change as possible from the previous maps drawn in 2011 by Republicans. Those maps, which also survived a challenge that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, were widely regarded as among the most gerrymandered in favor of Republicans in the country.

In a sign of how much the 2011 maps entrenched Republican power in the Legislature, Democrats won every statewide race in 2018 and 53% of the statewide legislative vote. And yet, Democrats won just 36 of the state’s 99 Assembly seats.

Republicans currently hold a 64-35 majority in the Assembly and a 22-11 majority in the Senate.

The state Supreme Court in 2022 initially adopted a map drawn by Evers, plans that largely preserved the district lines favoring Republicans. But the U.S. Supreme Court in March 2022 rejected the legislative maps while it accepted the congressional map.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court, on a 4-3 vote then adopted Republican-drawn legislative maps. The court’s three liberal justices dissented. They are now in the majority with the arrival of Justice Janet Protasiewicz, whose 10-year term began Tuesday.

Protasiewicz ran with support from Democrats and other critics of the current maps and was outspoken during the campaign about her desire to revisit the issue.

“The map issue is really kind of easy, actually,” Protasiewicz said during a candidate debate. “I don’t think anybody thinks those maps are fair. Anybody.”

___

Associated Press writer David A. Lieb, in Jefferson City, Missouri, contributed to this report.

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Wisconsin

Who should be this week’s Wisconsin Student of the Week? Vote in our poll.

Published

5 hours ago

October 7, 2024

Press Room

Thanks to great participation in last week’s USA TODAY NETWORK-WISCONSIN’s Student of the Week poll, we were able to crown our first winner.

Now, we need your help again to choose our second winner. This week’s finalists are Jovan Adamavich, a freshman doing big things at Sheboygan South High School, and Ethan LeCaptain, a senior who demonstrates leadership at Green Bay’s Notre Dame Academy.

Be sure to vote for your choice in the second round of this statewide initiative. Voting runs from 5 a.m. Monday, Oct. 7, until noon Thursday, Oct. 10.

Here’s what those who nominated our finalists say about them:

Jovan Adamavich, Sheboygan South High School, grade 9

“Jovan is currently earning As and Bs in school, and is working hard for his school’s football teams — playing both junior varsity and some varsity games — as a freshman. Jovan is also always polite and considerate in the space he shares with me and other students as part of Boys & Girls Clubs Be Great Graduate program. His hard work academically, athletically, and positive school citizenship is impressive!”

— Mary Michels, graduation specialist at Boys & Girls Clubs of Sheboygan County

Ethan LeCaptain, Notre Dame Academy, grade 12

“Ethan LeCaptain is a senior and has a strong work ethic. He knows what needs to get done. In addition, he also knows that other students, especially underclassmen, may struggle in their classes; therefore he has committed to tutoring others on a weekly basis. Finally, outside of the classroom, Ethan is a two-sport athlete who carries himself in a dignified manner both on and off the field of play.”

— Cassidy McGowan, learning resource consultant at Notre Dame Academy

Click the link below to vote:

Do you work with youth and know someone who should be Student of the Week? Reach out to Debi Young, statewide education editor, at debi.young@jrn.com to get a link to the nomination form.

Madison Lammert covers child care and early education across Wisconsin as a Report for America corps member based at The Appleton Post-Crescent. To contact her, email mlammert@gannett.com. Please consider supporting journalism that informs our democracy with a tax-deductible gift to Report for America by visiting postcrescent.com/RFA.

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin NICA league visits Rhinelander for the first time

Published

12 hours ago

October 6, 2024

Press Room

Wisconsin NICA league visits Rhinelander for the first time

RHINELANDER, Wis. (WJFW) – The Wisconsin Chapter of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association – also known as NICA – held the fifth race of their 2024 season at Camp Tesomas Boy Scout Camp on Sunday. Renee Griswold is the Wisconsin NICA league director says the goal is to help kids of middle and high school age to find community and be their best selves through mountain biking.

“We have 977 athletes competing from across Wisconsin,” Griswold said. “They are riding a brand-new course that was built for this event. And we’re just really happy to be here.”

While the Association has never been to Rhinelander, Griswold said the Northwoods terrain had everyone excited to get up to Rhinelander for a day of riding.

“The topography, the nature that we’re riding through,” Griswold said. “This venue itself, Camp Tesomas, is a Boy Scout camp and they have all of the amenities that we need. They have trails here already. They have space for camping, space for parking, all of the infield fun that we need. We can do all the activities we need to at this one big beautiful venue.”

Coming to beautiful new places like the Northwoods is part of what Griswold calls her “NICA why.” Which encourages athletes and coaches to ask themselves what they are riding for and why it’s important.

“For me personally, my NICA why is creating a safe space for our student-athletes and our coaches and our families to have new experiences,” Griswold said. “Everyone can do this to the best of their ability and make it their own experience and conquer their own challenges.”

The Rhinelander Northwoods Composite team also took some time to talk about what kinds of challenges they were expecting for Sunday’s races. And while they may only be in 7^th grade, these kids came ready for a race on their hometown turf.

“Today…it’s a cold one, so we’ve got to stay warm,” Rhinelander Composite Mountain Biking team member Jase Houg said. “So, it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be challenging for most kids but I feel like it’s going to be a good race.”

“It’s a very technical race…more technical than a lot of the other ones,” added Houg’s teammate Hans Sommer. “There’s some bigger hill climbs and more technical riding.”

When asked what their favorite part about mountain biking is, they said that anyone can find a welcoming community in the sport.

“There’s other trails, not just super technical trails or super trails that have a bunch of jumps. There’s also trails that are fun, flowy and just more fun to ride,” Sommer said. “And you’re out in the wild. Usually, you go around school and your friends are asking you ‘what’s the Rhinelander bike team?’ and you tell them ‘oh, it’s fun. You go out with a mountain bike and buddies and you go ride around on the trails,’” Houg added.

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Wisconsin

Trump Wisconsin visit; rallying in Juneau, Dodge County

Published

20 hours ago

October 6, 2024

Press Room

Trump Wisconsin visit; rallying in Juneau, Dodge County

MILWAUKEE – Former President Donald Trump will deliver remarks at a rally in Juneau, Wisconsin on Sunday, Oct. 6.

He started speaking at 2 p.m. at the Dodge County Airport.

Trump was last in Wisconsin on Oct. 1 – with stops in Milwaukee and Waunakee. He delivered remarks at Discovery World in Milwaukee on Tuesday evening. He also visited Dane Manufacturing in Waunakee.

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The day before, on Saturday, Trump rallied in Butler, Pennsylvania, the same city where he was nearly assassinated.

Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned in the Fox Valley in Wisconsin on Thursday, Oct. 3.

President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Milwaukee on Tuesday, Oct. 8, to discuss his administration’s “progress replacing lead pipes and creating good-paying jobs.”

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