New Lawsuit Alleges Wisconsin’s Congressional Map Violates State Constitution

Wisconsin’s congressional map violates the state constitution by discriminating against Democrats, a group of voters alleged in a new lawsuit Tuesday.

The voters said the battleground state’s map was the result of partisan gerrymandering that unfairly benefits Republicans and deprives Democrats of equal protection under the law and discriminates against voters based on their political views.

“Wisconsin’s congressional map is antithetical to virtually every principle necessary to sustain a representative democracy,” the voters alleged. “It impermissibly disadvantages voters based on their political views and partisan affiliation, systematically disfavoring Democrats because they are Democrats.”

The voters are seeking a court order to redraw the map and to bar the state’s elections commission from conducting future elections under the current map.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court adopted the current map in 2022 when the court was controlled by conservative judges. 

In adopting the map, the court adhered closely to a previous map passed by state Republicans a decade earlier.

After the map was adopted, congressional seats held by Democratic members fell below the state’s relative Democratic vote share, plaintiffs alleged. 

Republicans currently represent six out of the state’s eight congressional seats. 

“By packing the substantial share of Wisconsin’s Democrats into just two congressional districts, while cracking other Democratic communities into uncompetitive Republican districts, the map condemns the party that regularly splits or wins the statewide vote to permanent minority status in the state’s congressional delegation,” plaintiffs write. 

Petitioners said a new, more balanced map that reflects population shifts over the prior decade should be adopted in time for the 2026 congressional elections.

Tuesday’s lawsuit is the latest in a series of suits seeking to redraw the map.

Last month, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, in unsigned orders, declined to hear similar lawsuits against the map. Those previous lawsuits had directly asked the state Supreme Court to hear the lawsuits.

Tuesday’s lawsuit, and a separate lawsuit filed earlier this month, were introduced in a state trial court, so they could eventually make their way to the state Supreme Court again.

Any change to Wisconsin’s map benefiting Democrats could make it harder for the GOP to hold onto its slim majority in the U.S. House next year.

The plaintiffs are represented by the Elias Law Group (ELG). ELG Firm Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.