With all the running around of the holiday season, I had planned on writing a contemplative piece next week, but the Wisconsin State Supreme Court had other plans. While not a complete and total victory-State Senate candidates are not required to run for re-election-it is a major victory for the People of Wisconsin.
Tony Evers released a statement following the ruling.
The Court’s entire decision can be read here. The decision of the majority is only 45 pages (6-51).
In its decision, the Court answered the following questions:
1.) Do the existing state legislative maps violate the contiguity requirements contained in Article IV, Sections 4 and 5 of the Wisconsin Constitution?
2.) Did the adoption of the existing state legislative maps violate the Wisconsin Constitution's separation of powers?
3.) If the court rules that Wisconsin's existing state legislative maps violate the Wisconsin Constitution for either or both of these reasons and the legislature and the governor then fail to adopt state legislative maps that comply with the Wisconsin Constitution, what standards should guide the court in imposing a remedy for the constitutional violation(s)?
4.) What fact-finding, if any, will be required if the court determines there is a constitutional violation based on the contiguity clauses and/or the separation-of-powers doctrine and the court is required to craft a remedy for the violation? If fact-finding will be required, what process should be used to resolve questions of fact?
Rather than repeating the Court’s answers in whole here, the brass tacks are this: there will be new maps in time for the August primary and the Court maintains the right to impose new maps of its own. The legislature will have the first opportunity to set these maps right, but I highly doubt the Republican-dominated legislature will be able to count on any goodwill or good faith by anyone, given the surgical precision with which they’ve sliced and diced maps with in the most anti-democratic gerrymanders in American History.
I just wanted to point out the incredibly hypocritical statement by Hagedorn here, after he switched his vote in 2022 from supporting the Governor’s maps to the Wisconsin Republicans’ on that Good Friday, striking down much more fair maps. The reactionary majority has been imposing decisions on behalf of corporate, anti-labor, and anti-education interests for nearly two decades.
The judiciary has been our only opportunity for redress as more than half of the legislative seats have violated the Wisconsin Constitution. As citizens, we specifically voted for to redress our grievances-exactly the way the Founding Fathers intended. The Will of the People has never been good enough for legislative reactionaries as they threatened to impeach Justice Janet in a standard not even the Speaker’s “impeachment advisory committee” could stomach.
Now, as we gather round the hearth with kith and kin this holiday season and into the New Year, we must remain vigilant headed into 2024. Wisconsin Republicans in the Legislature also attempting to ready an abortion rights referendum for April 2024. Spring will be a busy time. 2024 will be chaotic. But we have a real opportunity to be a check on demagoguery and authoritarianism in this state.
I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and happy holiday season.