Wisconsin Republicans are claiming victory with Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision to send a lawsuit over the state’s legislative boundaries back to a lower court without addressing whether the map is constitutionally drawn. But Democrats say the ruling doesn’t put the legal fight to bed as Republicans suggest, and vow to clear any hurdle to get the nation’s highest court to answer the question of whether Wisconsin’s districts are so partisan that they violate the Constitution before the next round of map drawing.
“The discouraging thing is just the delay,” Bill Whitford, the named plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging the districts, said in a phone interview with reporters. “We have a road map forward … I don’t think we’ll have any difficulty meeting the burdens the court asked us to meet.”
Paul Smith, the lead attorney on the case and vice president for litigation and legal strategy for the Campaign Legal Center, suggested more plaintiffs could join the lawsuit as attorneys representing them seek to offer more evidence to prove individuals’ voting power within their legislative districts has been harmed by the maps.
He said the goal “is to try and get it done in time for a full and fair redrawing of the map for the 2020 election.”
Full Article: Democrats seek to bring case back to Supreme Court before 2020 elections.