A conservative legal group filed a redistricting lawsuit against Wisconsin state elections officials on Monday, the third such legal action in less than two weeks asking separate courts to intervene in the state’s reapportionment process and declare its current congressional districts unconstitutional.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, on behalf of four voters, asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to rule that the state’s constitution requires a new reapportionment plan to be drawn and to enjoin the Wisconsin Elections Commission from administering any election under the state’s current legislative and congressional maps.
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The suit follows the delivery of updated population data by the U.S. Census Bureau to the states on Aug. 12, which they will use to inform their redistricting efforts, and reflects a concern across ideological lines that Wisconsin’s divided government won’t reach an agreement on a new district map by the time the next election roll around.
“Based on population increases and decreases in different geographic areas, the existing apportionment plans for Wisconsin’s Congressional, State Senate and State Assembly seats no longer meet the Wisconsin constitutional requirements summarized in the principle of one person, one vote,” the lawsuit said.
“Further, the time for redistricting litigation is so short (especially this cycle with the delay in the completion of the census) that completing both a circuit court action and a Supreme Court review within the available period of time would be extremely difficult,” the suit continued, also citing the state’s divided government.
The arguments are virtually identical to a set of arguments made on behalf of Democratic Wisconsin voters, in a suit filed on Aug. 14, who are asking the District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin to prepare to intervene if Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and the Republican-led state Legislature fail to reach an agreement on a new map.
“There is no reasonable prospect that Wisconsin’s political branches will reach consensus to enact lawful legislative and congressional district plans in time to be used in the upcoming 2022 election,” that lawsuit read.
“Adopting new legislative maps is a state responsibility,” Rick Esenberg, president and general counsel for WILL, said in a statement Monday. “If the legislature and governor cannot agree, it is entirely appropriate — even necessary — for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, a branch of state government, to pass a judicial apportionment plan to adopt constitutional maps.”
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A third suit was brought in federal court on Monday by Black Leaders Organizing for Communities, Voces de la Frontera, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, and three voters. It seeks court intervention for the drawing of new state legislative district boundaries in the event of an impasse, according to the Associated Press. The suit does not ask for intervention with regard to congressional districts.
On Aug. 17, Wisconsin’s Republican-led Legislature asked the District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin to dismiss the initial Aug. 14 suit, calling the legal action “wildly premature” and saying it sought to remove the Legislature’s legal authority to oversee redistricting.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Wisconsin Republicans for comment on the conservative-backed suit but did not immediately receive a response.
