A coalition of law firms and voting rights advocacy groups filed a lawsuit seeking the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturn the state's Republican-drawn legislative maps.
The lawsuit was conveniently filed Wednesday, coming one day after the high court officially flipped to a liberal majority for the first time in 15 years.
The lawsuit alleges the state's current legislative maps are unconstitutional and demands all 132 state lawmakers, including those not slated to be on the ballot in 2024, face new elections in redrawn districts.
The state Supreme Court upheld the Republican-drawn maps in 2022 after Governor Tony Evers (D) rejected them.
According to The Hill, the suit argues the state legislative maps are an unconstitutional gerrymander. Jeff Mandell, board president of one of the groups that brought the lawsuit, said the focus on the legislative maps is a “first step.”
The petition claims the current maps violate the constitutional rights of some voters based on their viewpoint and free speech, establish noncontiguous districts with scattered fragments of detached territory and provide unfair treatment to certain voters based on their political views and where they live. The suit also argues the maps violate the promise of a free government.
The Governor called the suit “great news for our democracy” in a Wednesday statement.
“For years, members of the Wisconsin State Legislature have consistently ignored the will of the people, and they've been able to do so comfortably and without facing any real accountability because they have gerrymandered themselves into safe, partisan districts. It's time for that to change,” Evers said.
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4 Comments
Go Blue all the way
Better Red than dead, to quote your lefty brethren from back in the day when red denoted today’s blue and today’s blue is yesterday’s red as in communist.
How convenient !!! When the Republicans redraw the district lines it’s unconstitutional gerrymandering but when the demoncRATS do the very same redrawing of the lines it’s constitutional gerrymandering. It’s about time that “we the people” take this responsibility out of the hands of biased politicians and draws the lines by where we want to live our lives. No political shenanigans needed.
The ‘people’ of Wisconsin did not ‘win’ but the Democratic party activists did. Why the Democrat leaders always include ‘the people, the citizens, etc.’ in their pleas and victory speeches is a fantasy they live and breathe. They actually think the Democrats represent ‘the people’ when facts, societal living conditions and majority public opinions show just the opposite. Higher taxes, plague of criminal violence, civic disorders, acceptance of mob violence, inflation, release of major criminals back into society, complete loss of American unity between parties, minority entities, such as LGBQT and BLM, taking over policies governing the majority, rotting of our military, extremists appointed to high government roles, illegals overrun, a one sided judicial branch, etc. Only the Democratic party leaders can view these ‘achievements’ as positive and beneficial for ‘the people’.