MADISON, WI (WTAQ) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court has sided with legislative Republicans, adopting the assembly and state senate maps that they favor in a court battle over redistricting.
The 4-3 decision was reached Friday afternoon.
Justice Brian Hagedorn joined fellow conservative justices in casting the pivotal swing vote.
The maps were criticized by state Democrats, arguing the districts give Republicans too much advantage.
Gov. Evers released the following statement in reaction to the Wisconsin Supreme Court decision regarding redistricting:
This is an outrageous decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. This court had clearly and decisively rejected the Legislature’s maps prior to this case being considered by the Supreme Court of the United States, and today, they have backtracked on that decision, upholding the very maps they had previously found to unlawfully ‘pack’ Black voters. At a time when our democracy is under near-constant attack, the judiciary has abandoned our democracy in our most dire hour. Wisconsinites want a democracy, they want fair representation, and they want fair maps as they have demanded of this government for ten years. Today, they receive no recourse. This is an unconscionable miscarriage of justice for which the people of this state will see no reprieve for another decade.
“The maps proposed by the Governor … are racially motivated and, under the Equal Protection Clause, they fail strict scrutiny,” Chief Justice Annette Ziegler wrote for the majority, joined by Justices Patience Roggensack, Rebecca Grassl Bradley and swing Justice Brian Hagedorn.
The Legislature’s maps, they wrote, “are race neutral” and “comply with the Equal Protection Clause, along with all other application federal and state legal requirements.”
