A three-judge panel today ruled it lacks the authority to overturn a congressional map approved by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2022 and dismissed a Dem lawsuit challenging the lines as a partisan gerrymander.
The Supreme Court appointed two three-judge panels to handle separate challenges to Wisconsin’s congressional map, which has helped produce a 6-2 GOP majority.
In doing so, the panel in today’s ruling noted, the high court didn’t provide guidance to the three judges on their authority in handling the suit. That includes whether the circuit court judges are an “arm of the State Supreme Court” and whether their mission is simply fact finding.
They also noted the law Republicans authored in 2011 laying out how the process for the Supreme Court to appoint a three-judge panel for a challenge to Wisconsin’s congressional lines lacked guidance as well.
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The panel thus granted a motion to dismiss filed by GOP members of the state’s congressional delegation and others.
A second three-judge panel is still considering a lawsuit that claims the map is an anti-competitive gerrymander. That suit is scheduled to go to trial in 2027.
See more in today’s PM Update.