As numerous states across the country continue to battle over redistricting ahead of the 2026 election, Wisconsin has a redistricting fight of its own that will be fought in the courts rather than state legislatures or at the ballot box.
The dispute stems from two lawsuits filed by liberal groups that claim the current maps are anticompetitive. Wisconsin’s Supreme Court rejected similar lawsuits in June, but is now set to allow them to proceed with three judge panels.
The process is the result of a law passed in 2011 that was designed to ensure that judges from across the state heard redistricting cases rather than only assigning them to liberal leaning judges in Dane County.
Now, conservative legal groups are challenging the process, claiming that lower courts cannot overturn the maps, which were approved by the state Supreme Court in 2022.
“I think these are questions that will be answered eventually by the state Supreme Court,” Attorney Lucas Vebber of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty said. “And then again, there’s also the chance of U.S. Supreme Court review here.”
Liberal legal groups said that the case is not overturning a decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court because they are using a novel argument that the Supreme Court has not heard yet.
“We don’t think that our current case is one that asks the circuit court to overrule what the Wisconsin Supreme Court has done,” Plaintiff Attorney Doug Poland said. “But even if, for some reason, the circuit court were to dismiss our claim, we still get an opportunity to be able to take our claim up to the Wisconsin Supreme Court and give that court a chance to take a look at these issues.”
Still, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty said that the lawsuit is one among many in the state that have created instability in Wisconsin’s electoral process, confusing candidates and voters alike.
“At some point the redistricting merry-go-round has to stop, to give Wisconsin’s voters, candidates, and parties some stability—and faith in the rule of law,” WILL’s Luke Berg said.
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