Wisconsin Supreme Court Invalidates Legislative District Boundaries

Posted on by December 22, 2023

On December 22, the Wisconsin Supreme Court invalidated the legislative district boundaries. Clarke v Wisconsin Election Commission, 2023-WI-79. The Wisconsin Constitution says legislative districts must be contiguous, yet a majority of the districts include islands of unattached territory. The majority says the legislature must draw new districts in time for the 2024 election (the primary for state office and congress is in August). Othrwise the court will redraw the districts.

The majority opinion is 50 pages. The vote was 4-3. Each dissenter wrote seprately. One dissent is 89 pages, one is 56 pages, and one is 22. None of the dissents argues that the existing districts are contiguous. Instead, each dissent says that the majority is wrong on procedural issues.

The majority upholds the validity of “touch-point contiguity”. This means that the majority considers a district to be contiguous even if two parts of a district are drawn so that each touches the other at an infinitely small point. To illustrate, if one were to ask if Utah touches New Mexico, one would say “yes” even though they only touch at one infinitely small point at the “four corners” area of the United States. One could say the same thing about Colorado and Arizona. The majority also agrees that a district is contiguous even if two parts of a district are only connected by water, not land.

Here is the decision. I have been reading court opinions since 1970 and I have never seen an election law case in which the dissents were so hostile to the majority. Some parts of the dissents attack members of the majority in highly personal terms. Even if you aren’t inclined to read court opinions, you might be motivated to read the dissents. The Wisconsin Supreme Court is bitterly divided between the four Democratic members and the three Republican members.

Comments

Wisconsin Supreme Court Invalidates Legislative District Boundaries — 24 Comments

  1. Will read. I’m not bothered with the legal fiction of “touch-point contiguity” since borders themselves are legal fictions (if you drive out to a border area you won’t see a white line that goes past the horizon, rather natural features demarcate boundaries especially in terms of real estate). For all you closed borders people trying to defend legal fiction, stick your pen into the ground.

  2. I believe WI GOP said if the newly elected Dem S.Ct. Justice voted to invalidate the legislative map, they would impeach her and remove her from office, and I think the GOP have the votes in the legislature to do that. However, it seems the ruling would still stand.
    If she is removed from office, can the Dem Gov. appoint a temporary replacement? If a special election is held to fill the vacancy, the impeached justice or a new Dem candidate might be elected by an even greater margin due to the justice’s supporters being incensed.

  3. https://www.yahoo.com/news/wisconsin-supreme-court-orders-legislative-205224276.html

    Wisconsin Supreme Court orders new legislative maps in redistricting case brought by Democrats
    ONE STORY — OF MANY
    ———–

    ANY MENTION OF G MATH BY ANY OF THE HACK SO-CALLED *JUDGES* ??? —

    1/2 VOTES X 1/2 RIGGED G DISTS = 1/4 CONTROL = OLIGARCHY — WITH MONARCH GANG BOSSES.

    MUCH WORSE EXTREMIST PRIMARY MATH — CIRCA 5-10 PCT REAL CONTROL BY COMMIE/FASCIST SPECIAL INTEREST LOOTER GANGS — SINCE 1962-1964 G CASES.

    EVEN TROLL MORONS CAN BE A USEFUL AND TRY AND WAKE UP LOCAL STATE MEDIA ABOUT THE G MATH ROT AND THE TYRANT PREZ CANDIDATES IT HAS/IS PRODUCING.
    ———-
    P.R.
    APPV
    TOTSOP

  4. How many tons of briefs by all the gerrymander lawyers / hacks ???

    Hack judges carrying weapons for self defense against other hack judges , of course ???

  5. ONE MORE REASON FOR NONPARTISAN JUDICS VIA APPV

    INSTANT EFFECTS ON NEW LAW SKOOOOL STUDENTS — TO BE NEUTRAL RE CONST AND LAWS

  11. Wisconsin legislative districts sometimes follow non-contiguous municipal boundaries.

    Regardless, if people in Wisconsin give a crap, they might wonder about things like multi-member districts, or Single Transferable Vote, or fixed ways/algorithms to draw district boundaries.

    That is, if they care more about the sport than the team.

  12. How are troll moron AZ efforts to wake up its local media about (anything) coming along?

    Meanwhile, this horrid ruling is further illustration of the critical importance of voting for conservative, nationalist, right wing judges and justices.

    And, of course, for right wing, nationalist, traditionalist MEGA MAGA Conservative Republican legislators and executives (and none that aren’t).

    There was nothing whatsoever wrong with the district lines the Fabian Fauscist communist Luciferian demon rat Wisconsin kangaroos invalidated. Not one thing! Shame on these shameless demons. Toss them out on their ear! To hell with Satan!

    We must secure total victory for Trump and a future for White children!

  13. @AZ,

    The political parties do support candidates, but there are not partisan nominations and no affiliation is indicated on the ballot.

    Wisconsin is like Michigan in having secret affiliation of voters.

  15. The legislature should connect the municipal islands with narrow strips running down the middle of roads, in effect like a causeway connecting a geographical island with the mainland.

    This would make the districts contiguous while maintaining their construction from towns.

  17. New Hampshire allows “touch-point contiguity” as well as across lakes and rivers.

    Also, they must at smallest, use US census blocks. Using a highway won’t comply.

  19. Jim Riley – Why not just actually make them contiguous rather than cherry picking individual neighborhoods for this or that district and pretending they are contiguous by drawing lines down the middle of roads? Don’t want to ruin the Republican gerrymander?

  20. The invalidated districts were fine. Jesus approved of those maps, as did wise men.

    The problem in this country, and throughout the world, is not Republican, Republikaner, conservative, nationalist, traditionalist, Fidesz, Freedom, or any other right wing parties. Those are the solution.

    The problem is radical leftism. Whether it be manifest as 4-3 majorities on Wisconsin and Colorado courts, ivy league college presidents, DEI consultants, trannies in children’s libraries, queers for hamas, black clad Antifas, George Soros, demon rats in office, social(ist) workers, woke prosecutors, feminazi lawyers, nature worshipping hippies, armed shining path Marxist revolutionaries, upper middle class donors to any leftist cause that sends them an ask, or any of the other many parts and niches of the evil sinister leftist ecosystem.

    They are the problem. The stiff armed, extended iron right fist and steel toed right boot on their necks is the solution. The cattle prod in their sphincters, the billy club in their eye sockets, the Trump hat and yard sign and sticker and vote and flag and rally, the oil pipeline they protested against pumping oil, the Republican majority on the US Supreme Court, the shuttered abortoir, the Chinese spy sent home, the deported illegal alien invader, the denaturalized anchor baby, the resegregated public school opening its day with Christian prayer and Bible lessons..There are many manifestations of the solution, too.

    So let it be written, so let it be done!

  23. @Jim ,

    The Wisconsin Constitution requires districts to be bounded by ward, town, and county lines. In other words, the districts are to be assembled from counties, towns or cities within counties, wards within cities. The contiguity requirement is to prevent a district formed from non-adjacent counties, etc.

    Neighborhoods were not cherry picked. Disjoint areas of a town were kept in a district.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.