Wisconsin Supreme Court to Consider "Partisan Impact" of New Redistricting Plan

Monday, January 15th, 2024 -- 11:01 AM

(Rich Kremer, Wisconsin Public Radio) When the Wisconsin Supreme Court chooses a new redistricting plan to replace the state's current, Republican-drawn maps, justices on the court's liberal majority have said they'll consider its "partisan impact."

According to Rich Kremer with Wisconsin Public Radio, the term may sound mundane, but this is the first time it's been used by the state Supreme Court in the modern era of redistricting, and how it's defined could have big implications for the balance of political power in Wisconsin for years to come.

When the court's 4-3 liberal majority issued its bombshell ruling Dec. 22 striking down Republican drawn voting maps, it laid out a list of criteria it wanted parties to the state redistricting lawsuit to use when drawing new districts. Those maps are due to the court by 5 p.m. Friday.

Aside from Constitutional requirements that districts be as compact as possible, include similar populations and have boundaries that physically connect, the majority opinion said justices will weigh partisan impact as one of their criteria.

"As a politically neutral and independent institution, we will take care to avoid selecting remedial maps designed to advantage one political party over another," the majority opinion said. "Importantly, however, it is not possible to remain neutral and independent by failing to consider partisan impact entirely."

Liberal justices said that by ignoring any potential partisan impact of maps proposed by parties like the Republican-controlled Legislature or Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, it could wind up enacting new districts that give an advantage to one party over the other.

The initial task of deciding whether proposed maps comply with the partisan impact criteria and others will fall to University of California, Irvine Political Scientist Bernard Grofman and Carnegie Mellon University Political Scientist Jonathan Cervas.

The two were hired as consultants to the court and have been tasked by the majority with drawing their own maps if those submitted by parties come up short.

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