Another judicial panel rejects challenge to Wisconsin congressional map

A second three-judge panel in Wisconsin dismissed a challenge to the state’s congressional map on Tuesday, ruling it does not have the authority to rule on the matter.

The judges, David Conway of the Dane County Circuit Court, Michael Moran of the Marathon County Circuit Court and Patricia Baker of the Portage County Circuit Court, wrote in a 13-page ruling that unless the Wisconsin Supreme Court says “otherwise,” its prior 2022 ruling that the “partisan composition of electoral districts raises a non-justiciable political question” remains in effect.

As an “inferior court,” the panel is therefore “obligated to obey” that ruling, the judges wrote. 

“The Wisconsin Supreme Court has held that claims of the sort Plaintiffs allege are not actionable under Wisconsin law, and this panel, as an inferior tribunal exercising the powers of a circuit court, has no authority to modify or overrule that precedent,” the trio added. 

They later wrote, “This panel is left with no option but to dismiss Plaintiffs’ claims.”

The lawsuit was brought in July by a coalition led by the Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy. The plaintiffs alleged that the Badger State’s congressional map amounts to an “intentionally uncompetitive gerrymander” and asked the panel to declare it as unconstitutional. 

Last month, a separate three-judge panel in Wisconsin dismissed a different challenge to the state’s congressional map, ruling that it also lacks the authority to rule on the matter. 

Both rulings can be appealed. The Hill has reached out to the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for comment. 

Wisconsin has six Republicans and two Democrats in the House, representatives elected under congressional maps drawn by the state Supreme Court in 2022. The court, then controlled by conservatives but now controlled by liberals, drew it after Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) vetoed new maps that the GOP-controlled legislature drafted in response to the 2020 census. 

The state’s congressional map affords Republicans a “significant” advantage, according to the Gerrymandering Project at Princeton University — which gave the map an “F” rating. The project gave Wisconsin’s state House and Senate maps, on the other hand, an “A” rating.

The Cook Political Report rates GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden’s (Wisc.) bid for reelection as a “Toss Up” race, with the other seven seats in the state either likely or solidly in the hands of the incumbent party.