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- Two consultants had been employed to analyze new legislative boundary traces in Wisconsin after the state’s Supreme Court invalidated the present Republican-drawn maps.
- Wisconsin, amongst over a dozen states, is going through challenges to redistricting maps following the 2020 U.S. census.
- The Wisconsin Supreme Court dominated final month that the present legislative maps are unconstitutional, requiring the Legislature to move new maps.
Two consultants employed to analyze new legislative boundary traces in Wisconsin after the state’s Supreme Court tossed the present Republican-drawn maps shall be paid up to $100,000 every in taxpayer cash beneath phrases of their contracts made public Thursday.
Each marketing consultant shall be paid an hourly fee of $450, up to $100,000 complete, however the state director of courts has the authority to exceed the utmost quantity if she determines it’s obligatory, in accordance to the contracts.
Wisconsin is considered one of greater than a dozen states presently wrestling with challenges to redistricting maps that had been redrawn following the discharge of the 2020 U.S. census and first utilized to the 2022 elections. Court challenges may end in new U.S. House and state legislative maps earlier than the November election.
WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT TOSSES GOP-DRAWN LEGISLATIVE MAPS, ORDERS NEW VOTING BOUNDARIES
In Wisconsin, the court docket final month dominated that the present legislative maps are unconstitutional as a result of many districts aren’t contiguous. The court docket ordered that both the Legislature move new maps that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is keen to signal into regulation, or the court docket will proceed with adopting its personal map.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court listens to arguments from Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General Anthony D. Russomanno, representing Gov. Tony Evers, throughout a redistricting listening to on the state Capitol, on Nov. 21, 2023, in Madison, Wis. Two consultants had been employed to analyze new legislative boundary traces after the state’s Supreme Court invalidated the present Republican-drawn maps. (Ruthie Hauge/The Capital Times by way of AP, Pool, File)
The consultants had been employed to analyze maps submitted to the court docket by the Legislature, Evers and others, and report again on their findings.
The consultants — who’ve the authority to advocate adjustments to the submitted maps or to create their very own — have had a hand in reshaping districts in different states.
Jonathan Cervas, of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, redrew New York’s congressional and state Senate maps after a court docket struck down ones adopted by the Democratic-led Legislature. Bernard Grofman, of the University of California, Irvine, helped redraw Virginia’s federal and state legislative districts after a bipartisan fee deadlocked.
Conservative justices additionally objected to the hiring of the consultants, saying their choice, the authorized authority to appoint them and their obligations all increase severe questions.
WISCONSIN REPUBLICANS PASS REDISTRICTING REFORM PLAN, GOV. EVERS CALLS IT ‘BOGUS’
The maps from events to the lawsuit are due by Jan. 12, with supporting arguments due 10 days later. Reports from the consultants are due by Feb. 1, with responses every week later. That means the court docket will launch new maps possible someday in late February or early March except the Legislature acts first.
The state elections fee has stated maps have to be in place by March 15 if the brand new districts are to be in play for the November election.
Republican lawmakers final week requested the Wisconsin Supreme Court to keep and rethink its 4-3 ruling throwing out the GOP-drawn maps. Thursday was the deadline for events to the lawsuit to submit their arguments.
The court docket is unlikely to reverse its ruling. The liberal four-justice majority voted in favor of ordering new maps, with the three conservative justices dissenting.
The legislative electoral maps drawn by the Legislature in 2011 cemented the Republican Party’s majorities, which now stand at 64-35 within the Assembly and 22-11 — a supermajority — within the Senate.
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