Tony Evers urges Wisconsin Supreme Court to reconsider congressional maps

WASHINGTON – Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is asking the state Supreme Court to take up a motion to reconsider Wisconsin's congressional maps after the state's legislative boundaries were changed to weaken Republicans' grip on the state Legislature.

Evers asked the court to reconsider the congressional lines the same day he signed into law new maps that give Democrats a chance at competing for control of both chambers of the state Legislature for the first time in more than a decade.

The high-powered Democratic law firm Elias Law Group filed a motion with the Wisconsin Supreme Court last month asking the court to reconsider the congressional lines ahead of the 2024 election. The group argued new lines were warranted after the high court, when considering the legislative map challenge late last year, said it would no longer favor maps that minimize changes to existing boundary lines — a theory known as the "least-change" approach.

"Given that the maps the Governor submitted in Johnson were grounded in that 'least change' approach, the Governor urges the Court to review its decision and stands ready to participate in any future proceedings the Court may order," Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General Anthony D. Russomanno wrote in a letter to the state Supreme Court clerk on Monday.

Evers' request is the latest development in the congressional map inquiry as Democrats face a tight deadline to put new maps in place with under nine months until the November election. The court has not publicly indicated it will review the motion, and the Wisconsin Elections Commission has said that any new maps must be in place by March 15 to take effect for 2024.

Wisconsin’s current congressional district boundaries were drawn by Evers and later approved by the state Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court in March 2022 rejected the state’s legislative maps, also drawn by Evers, but declined to block the congressional lines.

Democrats, however, now argue that Evers' congressional map was drawn under the now-defunct "least change" constraints. The motion from the group led by Marc Elias, who has led previous voting access lawsuits in Wisconsin and across the country, asked the state Supreme Court to invite the parties involved in the previous congressional district map proposals to submit new maps.

"MONDAY: I signed fair maps for Wisconsin’s Legislature," Evers wrote in a tweet Wednesday. "NEXT UP: fair maps for our congressional districts."

He added: "We want to end gerrymandering in Wisconsin at every level, so I’m asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to review our congressional maps to make sure those are fair, too."

More:New maps mark a transformational change in Wisconsin legislative elections

There are just two competitive congressional districts in Wisconsin under the current maps. Republicans hold six of the state’s eight House seats, and Democrats safely control the deep blue 2nd and 4th Districts, anchored by Madison and Milwaukee, respectively.

The western 3rd District and southeastern 1st District are Wisconsin’s only competitive seats. Evers’ map maintained a slight Republican edge in the 3rd District, which flipped red later that year, and made the 1st District more competitive for Democrats, moving it from about a 9-point Republican margin down to a 2-point edge. Republican Rep. Bryan Steil easily won reelection in the 1st District in 2022.

Republicans at both the state and federal level, meanwhile, have pushed back on the effort to change the congressional maps.

Late last month, Wisconsin's Republican members of Congress and GOP state lawmakers asked liberal Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz to step away from deciding whether to reconsider the state’s congressional map.

They argued Protasiewicz prejudged the case when she made statements during her campaign last year when she repeatedly assailed the state's election maps, referring to them at one point as "rigged." Protasiewicz, however, is unlikely to recuse herself. She has rejected similar calls from Republicans in the state, including calls for recusal from the Legislative maps case.

Republicans have also noted the current congressional maps were drawn by Evers, though they were drawn before the court in December effectively nullified a 2021 ruling from the then-conservative court that held that new state election maps needed to resemble those drawn in 2011.

"I’d like to remind @GovEvers that he is asking the State Supreme Court to review the Congressional maps HE drew," Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, of Wisconsin's 5th Congressional District, wrote on X Wednesday.

Republican Party of Wisconsin spokesman Matt Fisher Wednesday evening noted groups connected with Elias Law Group donated to Protasiewicz's campaign and labeled the challenge to the state's congressional maps "nothing more than a blatant attempt by Wisconsin Democrats to exploit a compromised Justice for the sake of entrenching themselves in positions of power.”

“It comes as no surprise that Tony Evers would shamelessly pressure the Wisconsin Supreme Court to throw out his own maps," Fisher said.

Political districts typically are redrawn after the completion of the U.S. Census once every 10 years to account for population changes. Congressional districts must have equal populations, but how districts are drawn tends to determine which party holds power.