Today, a panel of three circuit court judges issued a ruling dismissing Law Forward’s Dane County Circuit Court lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s congressional map as an anti-competitive gerrymander that violates the constitutional rights of Wisconsin voters. Law Forward, working in partnership with the Election Law Clinic of Harvard Law School, will immediately appeal this decision to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
“We are disappointed that after receiving the case from the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the circuit court panel has declined to allow us to present evidence and legal arguments that we believe demonstrate the anti-competitive nature of Wisconsin’s congressional map and how it violates Wisconsin voters’ constitutional rights,” said Doug Poland, Law Forward’s Director of Litigation. “This is the first anti-competitive gerrymandering case ever filed in Wisconsin courts, and it deserves to be heard. We believe that the circuit court was wrong in concluding that anti-competitive gerrymandering is “functionally equivalent” to partisan gerrymandering. They are different claims, based on different evidence, that target different ways of manipulating representation to the detriment of voters. The law that required the Wisconsin Supreme Court to appoint the three-judge circuit court panel also requires that we file an appeal of the circuit court’s ruling to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, not the intermediate Court of Appeals. We will therefore appeal the case to our state supreme court and look forward to the opportunity to prove that the state’s congressional maps must be redrawn to ensure that Wisconsin voters are given a real choice in voting for congressional district candidates and that the legislature does not dictate which political party’s candidate will prevail by skewing the composition of districts to protect incumbents and political parties.”
The underlying case, Wisconsin Business Leaders v. WEC, was filed on July 8, 2025. It challenges Wisconsin’s current congressional map as one that protects incumbents and eliminates meaningful electoral competition. When the outcome is predetermined, it discourages challengers from running, voters from voting, and insulates politicians from their constituents demands. Plaintiffs include individual voters from each of Wisconsin’s eight congressional districts and the nonpartisan civic group Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy.
