The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a Republican-led legislature in Wisconsin over a map of voting for state legislature districts.
The country’s highest court has overturned a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that selected a map drawn by Democrat Gov. Tony Evers and sent the case back to the state for reconsideration.
Liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan disagreed, saying “today’s court action is unprecedented,” adding that “the court today blamed the state Supreme Court for failing to comply with an obligation that, according to the existing precedent, is at best blurred.”
In a second unsigned ruling Wednesday, which was one sentence long and did not mention any dissent, the court rejected a challenge from five Republican congressmen who objected to the congressional map adopted by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which was prepared by Mr. Evers, a Democrat. The New York Times reported.
“In the case of state legislature districts, legislators and four voters have filed an urgent petition in the U.S. Supreme Court calling the governor’s map a 21st century ethnic germander, centering on the fact that it has increased the number of state legislature districts. Around Milwaukee where black voters have a majority of six to seven. The number of maps of the legislature has come down to five, ”the report added.
Back in December, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in favor of Republicans in a restructuring case that state borders should remain intact for a decade.
In a 4-3 ruling, the court’s conservative majority said it would adopt a “minimal change” approach to Wisconsin’s current legislature and congressional map, effectively limiting any change in political boundaries with population changes.
The ruling means the court will make as few changes as possible to the political map drawn and adopted in 2011.
Democrats argued that the old maps – approved by the Republican-controlled legislature and signed by a Republican governor – were designed to give the GOP a distinct political advantage, and that the new maps should be completely redesigned.
The state leadership split with Tony Evers, a Democrat governor who vetoed the maps provided by the Republican legislature this year.
But in its ruling, the court said there was no reason to step in because the maps had already been compiled.
The Conservative majority court’s decision states that “existing maps were adopted by the legislature, signed by the governor, and survived the judicial review of the federal court.” “Going further than necessary to remedy their current legal deficits … would interfere with the constitutional privileges of the political branches and destabilize the constitutional distribution of power.”
“We use the minimalist-change approach to remedy any constitutional or statutory weaknesses in existing maps because the Constitution prevents the judiciary from interfering in the legislative policy choices of the legislature,” it said.
The court also said it would not consider the political fairness of the map because “party fairness presents a completely political question, we will not consider it.” Justice Rebecca Bradley said.
“Such a claim has no basis in the constitution or any other law and should therefore be resolved through a political process, not by the judiciary,” Bradley added.
The Supreme Court first appeared in a conservative brief on behalf of Republicans in a post-Wisconsin restructuring case.