(MADISON) On Friday, April 15th, the Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed its previous decision and declared that the GOP-drawn maps will be in effect for this year’s legislative elections. State Representative Gary Hebl (Sun Prairie) released the following statement in response:

Last week’s ruling is an indefensible affront to democracy. It’s no wonder that the conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court waited until just before five o’clock on a holiday weekend to release their decision.

Besides choosing an undemocratically gerrymandered GOP map, the Wisconsin Supreme Court had the gall to call the GOP maps “race-neutral.” There are currently six majority-minority legislative Assembly districts in Wisconsin. Gov. Evers map increased that to seven; the GOP gerrymander reduces that to five. Maps that reduce majority-minority districts and therefore minority representation cannot be deemed “race- neutral.”

The actions by the Wisconsin GOP, Wisconsin Supreme Court, and Supreme Court of the United States were not done with democratic rule in mind. They were done with only one goal- maintaining Republican power. Wisconsin is a true swing state, and yet the Wisconsin GOP and conservative Supreme Court have likely locked in at least a decade of majority rule from Republicans- potentially even locking in a veto-proof majority for the next ten years.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision ensures that the GOP will have no need to listen to what most Wisconsin residents want, because they will be able to maintain power even without a majority of votes. Legislators should be accountable and responsive to voters. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin has all but guaranteed that important issues facing Wisconsin will continued to be ignored while Republicans continue pursuing their extremist partisan agenda. Wisconsin deserves better.

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