Elections do have consequences. In April, Wisconsin voters created a seismic shift in the state by electing Justice Janet Protasiewicz and thereby shifting the balance of the state supreme court to the left for the first time in 15 years. And Wisconsin is starting to see Justice and Democracy return to the state, one court case at a time.
On Friday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the Republican gerrymandered districting maps were illegal. Chris Hayes and David Jolly discussed the ramifications of this decision:
Chris Hayes: David, i want to ask you about this new result. There's some breaking news here in Wisconsin.. This has been one of the most contentious fights in the whole nation, on the most aggressive state gerrymander probably in the entire country.. The Wisconsin Republicans who have gerrymandered themselves on the legislative map that essentially guarantees them a 2-1 simple majority in the state legislature in both houses, even when the Democrat at the top of the ticket, Tony Evers, for example, wins statewide. Thanks to a switch in the personnel in the court, they have now thrown those maps out after a very, very long battle in that state. What do you think of that?
David Jolly: Yeah, and that last point is probably the most important, the hard work of progressive and democratic activists, but let's get to the substance.. Wisconsin has been a hotbed of gerrymandering and gerrymandering jurisprudence and the question the high court wrestled with is we know gerrymandering on race and gender is unconstitutional, but can you gerrymander on partisan and political grounds? It's called the efficiency gap.. As you point out in Wisconsin, it's relatively a 50-50 state. Elected Democratic governor, but Republicans have so gerrymandered the state legislature, it's a 2-1 majority.. What's happened this year, progressive and Democratic activists worked very, very hard, Chris. you know this well.. The reward was they elected a supreme court justices that tilted the scale towards the Democratic elected judges.. And they just ruled that, no, you can't do 2-1 majority for Republicans in a 50-50 state.. It won't affect congress or the presidency, but all of a sudden we have a very right gerrymandered and in Wisconsin all the lines have to be redrawn.
Hayes: We've seen, Heather, the way those super majorities have acted, particularly on Dobbs and other things.
The lawsuit hinged on whether the state legislature maps were constitutional. The constitution requires that the districts be contiguous. But after the Republican gerrymandering, 50 of 99 state assembly districts and 20 of the 33 state senate districts include separate and detached islands. Sometimes those detached areas consists of just one house.
To add to the conservatives’ chagrin, the state supreme court also ordered that the newly drawn maps be submitted early in 2024. On top of that, they also have to be analyzed by two renowned redistricting consultants, Bernarnd Grofman and Jonathan Cervas, for compliance and fairness.
As one would expect, Republicans - both legislators and justices - are having snit fits over the ruling. They are making false allegations of corrumption, but not one of them is offering an alternate definition of contiguous or trying to argue that those districts meet that definition. Go figure.
As for the majority of us, we are already enjoying one of the most joyous Yuletide celebrations this state has seen in a very long time.
And if you're looking for some light reading, here is the entire 235 page decision. If nothing else, the dissents are entertaining, watching them have their meltdowns.
