Despite Protasiewicz Win in Wisconsin, the Fight for Fair Maps Far from Over 

Brian Beihl

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 11, 2023

Nonpartisan maps as proposed by the Wisconsin “People’s Maps Commission” in 2020. The maps were ignored by the majority in the Wisconsin legislature.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Capital Times – (2022)  Wisconsin Supreme Court adopts GOP-drawn legislative maps
Capital Times – Liberal law firm to argue gerrymandering violates Wisconsin Constitution
Wisconsin Law Journal – Lawsuit to challenge Wisconsin’s legislative maps to be filed
Univ. of Wisconsin Law School – Redistricting Redux? How the 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court election is reviving questions about the state’s gerrymandered maps
Washington Examiner – Liberal win in Wisconsin Supreme Court race could flip US House and state legislature
The Guardian – Wisconsin senate supermajority win gives Republicans impeachment power
Roll Call – Ripples from Wisconsin Supreme Court battle could reach the Hill

Groups Taking Action:
Law Forward, Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition, Wisconsin Conservation Voters, Represent.Us, Common Cause WI

Today’s Script:  (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

Experts are still sorting out the seismic impact on Wisconsin’s redistricting after the state’s April 4th Supreme Court election.  Justice-elect Janet Protasiewicz won’t be sworn in until August 1st, but already a democracy advocacy group has signaled it will sue to overturn Wisconsin’s gerrymandered maps.  But don’t celebrate just yet.

The Capital Times reports that Law Forward, a Wisconsin voting rights group, will not relitigate the 2022 case in which the Wisconsin Supreme Court endorsed the heavily gerrymandered maps.  Instead, the suit will focus on how the maps violated Wisconsin’s constitution under language that it guarantees a free and fair government.  

Despite the shift from conservative to liberal in the state’s high court, it didn’t yet change the makeup of the state legislature, which, for now, is still gerrymandered and under GOP control.  The same day Judge Protasiewicz was elected, a special election for a state senate seat resulted in a conservative being elected, giving the GOP a veto-proof supermajority in the Wisconsin Senate.  

Wisconsin’s constitution allows for impeachment of “civil officers” by the legislature, but it hasn’t done so since 1853.   According to an article in the Guardian, senate candidate Dan Knodl said during the campaign that the legislature’s impeachment power would QUOTE “certainly be tested” if he were to be elected.  

If Republicans should impeach Protasiewicz, Governor Tony Evers may not have the power to stop it. We have links to articles and groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

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