U.S. Supreme Court 'Punts' On Gerrymandering Case

WISCONSIN — The U.S. Supreme Court effectively punted on a landmark gerrymandering ruling with implications for Wisconsin and other states, sending the case back to a lower court.

According to the Supreme Court's opinion Monday, the case lacked legal standing on the basis that the court could not address an entire state map all at once, but rather must review each district one at a time.

Democratic challengers hoped that a ruling would force a re-drawing of Wisconsin legislative maps in time for the November midterm election. Democrats in Wisconsin argued that GOP-drawn maps were friendly to conservatives in the state, and in violation of their constitutional rights.

Related Reading: Read the Supreme Court's opinion here.

By the Numbers: Partisan Advantage?

According to the Brennan Center of Justice, after districts were redrawn by Wisconsin Republicans in 2012, Republicans won 60 of the 99 seats in the Wisconsin Assembly, despite winning only 48.6 percent of the two-party statewide vote; in 2014, they won 63 seats with only 52 percent of the statewide vote.

Republicans took control of Wisconsin's state government during the 2010 election and redrew legislative maps in 2011 as part of redistricting required every 10 years.

Lower Court Ordered Republicans To Redraw Maps

After a lower federal court ruling found GOP-drawn Wisconsin legislative maps unconstitutional in November 2016, a judicial panel ordered state lawmakers to have all-new maps in place in time for the November 2018 election.

In their ruling, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Wisconsin must "have a remedial redistricting plan for the November 2018 election, enacted by the Wisconsin Legislature and signed by the Governor, in place no later than November 1, 2017."

Critics called the redistricting "the worst example of gerrymandering in modern history." Republicans vowed to fight the ruling.

Wisconsin Legislative Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican from Rochester, said, "It's unprecedented, and it isn't over" after a panel of federal judges ruled GOP-redrawn legislative districts were unconstitutional.

"There are only two things that are certain about this case: it's unprecedented and it isn't over. The ruling can and should be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court," Vos stated after the lower court's ruling. "The state of Wisconsin has competitive legislative districts that meet every traditional principle of redistricting. Republicans win elections because we have better candidates and a better message that continues to resonate with the voters."

GOP Petitions Supreme Court To Halt Lower Court's Ruling

Petitioners backing GOP interests in Wisconsin filed their appeal with the Supreme Court in February 2017, asking them to review the district court's decision to force the state to re-draw the maps in time for 2018 elections.

Paul Smith, vice president of litigation and strategy at the Campaign Legal Center, who argued before the Supreme Court opposing the Republican-drawn plan said, "Partisan gerrymandering of this kind is worse now than at any time in recent memory. The Supreme Court has the opportunity to ensure the maps in Wisconsin are drawn fairly, and further, has the opportunity to create ground rules that safeguard every citizen's right to freely choose their representatives."

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos were much happier about the Supreme Court's willingness to take up the case and released the following joint statement in response to the ruling: "We are encouraged by the decision by the Supreme Court to hear Wisconsin's appeal of Gill v. Whitford and grant a stay of the lower court's order. Wisconsin lawmakers have maintained that our state's redistricting process and legislative maps are legal and constitutional, and we look forward to the Court's final decision which we are confident will affirm our position."

Court Agreed To Hear Case in 2017

The Supreme Court in 2017 agreed to decide whether Wisconsin Republican lawmakers violated the constitutional rights of voters when they re-drew electoral districts in 2011.

The Supreme Court at the time decided to take a look at the thorny issue of whether district lines could legally be re-drawn for partisan advantage. According to a WISN report, however, the Supreme Court never struck down districts based on partisan advantage. Monday's ruling appears to continue that precedent.

Wisconsin Dems Emboldened By Pennsylvania Ruling

As officials on both sides awaited a ruling from the Supreme Court, the court made a different ruling in March that emboldened area Democrats. According to an earlier Patch.com report, Pennsylvania's GOP-dominated state legislature originally re-drew the state's congressional districts with a GOP tilt.

After a legal challenge, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court re-drew the districts based on non-partisan lines. Republicans then challenged the validity of those maps — only to have the Supreme Court today block that GOP-led legal challenge.

The legal wranglings boiled down to the court's opinion that the GOP-favored maps were unconstitutional and that the non-partisan maps were constitutional.

Photo of Supreme Court via Shutterstock