Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is looking to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to adopt new legislative district maps that are constitutional. And the Republican leader said those submitted by Democrats are not.
“I am waiting for the maps as they come on through the process,” Vos said during a Tuesday press conference. “But any fair reading would say that half the people moving to a new legislator, tons of incumbent pairings, lots of things where we are changing the map is nothing more than a political gerrymander.”
Remedial legislative maps submitted to the Supreme Court generally reduce Republican majorities. The maps were submitted on Friday. Maps from Republican lawmakers would diminish but not eliminate that party’s majorities in the Senate and Assembly.
State Senate Democrats proposed maps would produce a 54-45 Republican Assembly majority and a 17-16 Republican edge in the Senate. Maps from Governor Tony Evers give Republicans a 50-49 advantage in the Assembly and Democrats an 18-15 Senate majority. Republicans now have a 22-11 majority in the Senate and a 64-35 edge in the Assembly.
The court also received submissions from UW-Milwaukee professors, the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty and petitioners represented by liberal legal firm Law Forward. Justices have until March 15 to enact new districts ahead of the August legislative primary.
Vos said Tuesday that he’s still hopeful the liberal majority on the state court will submit constitutional maps. If not, Republicans will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“My hope is that the court in any fair reading rejects the maps that were submitted, which have large partisan bias, and either has maps drawn by the professors if they go that route, or ultimately we’ll have to go to the Supreme Court and demonstrate the huge political nature of what they’ve done,” Vos said.