Fair Game

 To the victors…

The recent decision by the four liberal members of the Wisconsin Supreme Court to rule that the redistricting maps drawn by the State Legislature fails on its face. The municipal “islands” that were found to be acceptable by three of the liberal justices in 2020, somehow became unacceptable to those same Justices as they effectively overruled themselves. The Wisconsin State Constitution gives authority to the Legislature to redraw the legislative maps after the United States census is completed each decade. This authority falls to the majority elected by the citizens of Wisconsin. Each member of the State Assembly and Senate is elected by the citizens of their District.

In 2001, Democrats held an 18-15 majority in the State Senate and Republicans held a 54-45 majority in the Assembly. Legislative maps were crafted by the divided legislature and signed by Republican Governor Tommy Thompson. After the 2010 census, the Republicans were elected to majorities in both houses and Governor. For the first time, Republicans were given the authority to redraw legislative districts and have them approved by a Republican Governor. Of course, Democrats claimed that the Republicans gerrymandered to their advantage. The crafters of our State’s Constitution were intentional in their decision to rest the power of redrawing legislative district lines by the Legislature. The people’s mandate in electing the majority party was to be rewarded and their will accomplished when their chosen legislators are given “the keys to the car.” There is no such thing as “fair maps” that are equally divided by political affiliation, nor was it ever intended to be. Whichever party controls the redrawing, the other party cries foul! “They are creating maps that benefit themselves.” No kidding. If you want more authority, convince more people to vote for you. To the victors go the spoils.

Wisconsin State law has two criteria for redrawing legislative maps; They must be of substantially equal population and not discriminate based on race. Traditional redistricting principles, however, have been used by numerous states. Wisconsin uses three; District boundaries be as compact as practical, contiguous and preserve political subdivisions. Compactness and contiguity are self-explanatory. Political subdivisions are not defined as communities that tend to vote for one political party, as the Court implies. From the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau report on redistricting in Wisconsin 2020;

 “Respecting the unity of political subdivisions means drawing district boundaries in such a way as to avoid crossing existing political boundaries. This principle both simplifies the administration of elections and helps to clearly identify for voters the specific district in which they live. In many ways this principle goes hand in hand with the effort to preserve communities of interest. However, strictly adhering to the boundaries of political subdivisions in a redistricting plan often makes it more difficult to satisfy equal population requirements. Consequently, this principle, while by no means obsolete, was followed much more meticulously in Wisconsin, and elsewhere, before the advent of one person, one vote.

In Wisconsin, assembly districts must “be bounded by county, precinct, town or ward lines.” Additionally, county supervisory districts must generally consist of whole wards or municipalities, city aldermanic districts must consist of whole wards, and wards may not cross municipal or county lines.

Notice that political party preference is not a traditional redistricting principle. Some States use the “competitive” principle to not advantage one political party by creating “safe” districts for either party. Another principle is to not create boundaries that move incumbents into the same district, as did the map presented by Governor Evers. Neither of these traditional redistricting principles are used in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Legislature is the sole authority to redraw legislative maps and the Governor has the authority to veto any map deemed unsatisfactory. If vetoed, the Legislature needs to either override the veto or redraw maps that the Governor will approve. The Wisconsin State Supreme Court is usurping the Constitutional authority of the legislature to redraw the maps, especially if those maps were the same maps previously upheld by the Wisconsin Supreme Court just over a year ago. We, the people, are being denied by a body that is usurping the authority of our elected representatives. The decision by the four liberal Justices to discard the previously approved maps is a threat to democracy and irrevocably harms the citizens of this great State. The Legislature enacts laws, and the Supreme Court rules on those laws’ constitutionality. They do not have the authority to remake laws to their liking.