Just two years ago, in November 2021, Democrats and Republicans were debating proposed legislative redistricting maps. Legislative redistricting occurs once every ten years, following each decennial census, to account for population and demographic shifts. Despite the relatively recent census and redistricting discussion, Wisconsin legislators have returned to debating the politically contentious issue.
The discussions have heated up following the 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court Election. Now Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz commented on the legality of the legislative maps passed in 2021 by WI Republicans.
Protasiewicz was sworn in on Aug. 1 2023, flipping the majority control to liberals for the first time in 15 years.
The Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly, Robin Vos, has called on Protasiewicz to recuse herself from a case trying to overturn the Republican-passed maps. Vos believes comments made by Protasiewicz on the campaign trail regarding the current maps make her unfit to participate in the case.
“If there’s any semblance of honor on the state Supreme Court left, you cannot have a person who runs for the court prejudging a case and being open about it,” Vos said.
Vos claims that when Protasiewicz referred to the legislative maps as “rigged,” she inherently prejudged the case, which at the time didn’t exist.
Vos has threatened to look into impeaching Protasiewicz if she doesn’t recuse herself from the case.
Vos’s threats have received significant backlash from many Democrats and few Republicans in the state. Wisconsin Sstate Senator Mark Spreitzer of Beloit, who represents Stoughton, believes the calls for Protasiewicz’s recusal and Vos’s impeachment threats are baseless and unwarranted.
“You have the Republican legislators who are part of this case, trying to influence the behavior of a judge that is on their case by threatening impeachment for no legitimate ground,” Spreitzer says.
In the wake of his impeachment threats, Vos took a turn on his redistricting stance, proposing legislation that would create a nonpartisan redistricting process for WI. The bill would delegate the task of drawing legislative maps to the legislature’s nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau attorneys.
Democrats have long supported nonpartisan redistricting, hoping to end the Republican gerrymandering that has left them with significant minorities in both chambers of the legislature.
Gerrymandering is when one party draws legislative maps to favor their party disproportionately. Wisconsin’s state Senate is rated “F, Significant Republican advantage,” according to the Princeton Gerrymandering Project.
Spreitzer supports nonpartisan redistricting and has supported similar legislation as a state representative. However, Spreitzer explains that he doesn’t support this proposed legislation due to a few key differences.
“This bill does not have a three-fourths vote requirement to adopt a map […] They (Republicans) could just reject a couple of maps and then pass a map they like over the Governor’s veto. A three-fourths vote requirement ensures that you have meaningful Democrat and Republican support for any map, and that it’s not one party using the fig leaf of a nonpartisan process to actually ram through their own gerrymander.” Spreitzer says.
Like Spreitzer, Vos has also changed his stance on nonpartisan redistricting. Vos has denied similar bills to any committee or floor vote since he became speaker in 2013.
“I don’t think Vos suddenly had an epiphany after all these years and decided he was wrong and that he suddenly wants to end gerrymandering. I think he is using the bill to try to stop the current lawsuit, because he thinks the current lawsuit will actually end gerrymandering.” Spreitzer says.
Democrat Governor Tony Evers has announced his intention to veto the legislation if it comes to his desk. The bill must pass the state Senate before the Governor can act on the legislation.