The Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the state’s legislative maps on Friday just months after liberals took a 4-3 advantage on the court.
In a 4-3 decision, the liberal justices said that the current maps violated the state’s constitution and needed to be redrawn. The decision was celebrated by Democrats, who have claimed that the legislative maps in the state were rigged, while Republicans said that the liberal justices had decided the case before it was brought.
“Given the language in the Constitution, the question before us is straightforward,” Judge Jill J. Karofsky wrote for the majority. “When legislative districts are composed of separate, detached parts, do they consist of ‘contiguous territory?’ We conclude that they do not.”
Conservative Judge Annette Ziegler said that the liberals on the court had taken a “wrecking ball” to the state constitution.
“The court of four takes a wrecking ball to the law, making no room, nor having any need, for longstanding practices, procedures, traditions, the law, or even their coequal fellow branches of government,” she said in her dissent. “Their activism damages the judiciary as a whole.”
Liberal Judge Janet Protasiewicz, who started a 10-year term on the court in August, voted to throw out the old maps. Protasiewicz, who was backed by George Soros, campaigned for the court on the platform that the maps were “rigged” and “unfair.” Leftist groups challenged the Wisconsin maps a day after Protasiewicz was sworn into office.
“We certainly expected this,” said Republican state Sen. Duey Stroebel. “She said while running for office that the maps were rigged. Now that they have control of the court, they legislate from the bench.”
The state legislature is currently controlled by Republicans, who nearly have a supermajority in the Senate and are just two seats away from a veto-proof majority in the Assembly.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP
In a statement after the decision, Democrat Governor Tony Evers said that he agreed with the court’s decision and claimed that Republicans had gerrymandered themselves into “comfortable, partisan majorities.”
“Wisconsin is a purple state, and I look forward to submitting maps to the Court to consider and review that represent the makeup of our state. And I remain as optimistic as ever that, at long last, the gerrymandered maps Wisconsinites have endured for years might soon be history,” he said.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said that the issue would likely end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. “The case was pre-decided before it was even brought. Sad day for Wisconsin when the state supreme court just said last year that the existing lines are constitutional. Fortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court will have the last word,” he said.