The liberal-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court is hearing arguments today in a redistricting case that Democrats hope will result in new, more favorable legislative maps for elections in 2024, according to the Associated Press, helping them chip away at the large Republican majority.
The case is being closely watched across a state in which four of the past six presidential elections have been decided by fewer than 23,000 votes, and where Republicans have built large majorities in the Legislature under maps they drew over a decade ago.
Democratic voters who filed the lawsuit being heard by the court today argue that the maps passed in 2022, which vary little from those drawn in 2011, are unconstitutionally “unsalvageable” and must be struck down and redrawn. The Legislature counters that Democrats are exercising “raw political power” and trying to take advantage of the new liberal majority on the court to overturn its 2021 ruling that adopted the current maps.
Democrats want the court to strike down the legislative maps, draw new ones, and order elections under those maps for all 132 state lawmakers in 2024. If the court were to rule that way, the case would certainly be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and it’s unclear whether there would be a ruling in time for the 2024 election.
The Legislature argues that if new maps are ordered, nothing should be enacted any sooner than the 2026 election.
Wisconsin’s Assembly districts rank among the most gerrymandered nationally, with Republicans routinely winning far more seats than would be expected based on their average share of the vote, according to an Associated Press analysis.
