Wisconsin’s liberal‑controlled Supreme Court, locked in a 4–3 ideological split, refused to intervene in Democratic efforts to redraw the state’s GOP‑dominated congressional map.
Democrats claim the maps are a gerrymandered power grab, crying foul as they see their roadmap to regaining House control vanish.
The Elias Law Group and Campaign Legal Center filed dual petitions in May, urging the Court to invalidate the 6‑2 Republican‑leaning congressional configuration, claiming it violates the state’s constitutional promise of equal representation.
Susan Crawford won the race handily in April and now sits on the Wisconsin State Supreme Court.
She’s a former attorney for Planned Parenthood, fighting to keep abortion unrestricted, and she’s bragged about leading the charge against Act 10—the law that curbed public union power under Governor Scott Walker. She called voter ID laws “draconian” and worked with the League of Women Voters to dismantle them.
It took Wisconsin Democrats a little over one month to call on the Supreme Court to toss out the current congressional map in the state.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported:
The Wisconsin Supreme Court on June 25 rejected a request to reconsider the state’s congressional maps ahead of next year’s midterm elections, all but ensuring the current maps will remain in place for 2026.
The liberal-controlled court’s decision, which was made without comment from the justices, marked the second time in the past two years that the court has rejected a push from Democrats to change the battleground state’s federal maps, which currently favor Republicans six House seats to two. It is a loss for Democrats who sought more favorable lines as they aim to retake control of the House in 2026.
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The state’s current congressional lines were drawn by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. The state Supreme Court approved his set of maps in 2022 because it made the least changes compared to ones submitted by Republicans and others.
The U.S. Supreme Court in March 2022 rejected the state’s legislative maps, also drawn by Evers, but declined to block the congressional lines at the time.
Democrats, however, argued that Evers’ congressional maps were drawn under those now-defunct “least change” constraints.
Wisconsin has only two competitive districts — the 1st Congressional District held by U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil and the the 3rd Congressional District held by U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden. Both men are Republicans. There are six Republicans and two Democrats in Wisconsin’s House delegation.
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