MILWAUKEE— Sachin Chheda, director of the Fair Elections Project, issued the following statement in response to the Wednesday’s State Supreme Court Decision to take original jurisdiction on a redistricting case:
“This is a disappointing decision that ignores both the law and practical considerations. The State Supreme Court has no experience in these complex cases, and no procedure for the necessary fact-finding. Both the current and former Chief Justice have previously said so, and nothing has changed from their original concerns. It unfortunately looks like a politicization of the process, and that gives the people of Wisconsin even less confidence in the state high court.
“The reality is that whatever happens in state court still will almost certainly need to be reviewed in federal court, and this exponentially increases costs for the taxpayers, who will be paying for duplicative litigation in multiple venues. And this surely does not speed up the process.
“The best scenario is for the governor and legislature to agree on a fair redistricting, likely based on the People’s Maps Commission maps. Absent that, federal court is the appropriate venue to write maps for the next decade.”
