Challenge to Wisconsin's new legislative districts is headed to trial
Three federal judges ruled Wednesday morning that Wisconsin lawmakers have the power to change the state and congressional district boundaries they approved last year.
The court said if they didn't agree to do it by 2 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, the court would start hearing testimony on Thursday, Feb. 23, on a request to rule those maps unconstitutional.
Two groups representing Democrats and Hispanics filed suit against the new districts. They said the maps dilute Hispanic representation in the Legislature and too many people would have to wait another two years to elect their new senators.
On Tuesday, the three-judge panel in Milwaukee gave the Republican lawmakers one final chance to meet with the plaintiffs and consider their concerns in re-drawing the new districts.
But the GOP lawmakers said they could not legally change the maps they approved because a Supreme Court ruling from 1954 prohibited such a move.
The plaintiffs disagreed. They said the maps could be changed as long as the current Legislature is in session.
One of the plantiffs, former state Senate Democratic leader Judy Robson, said the Republicans would have to admit they were wrong. She said that "given their arrogance," they would never admit that.
Meanwhile, it's not clear when testimony in the trial will begin. The panel says it would rule Wednesday on a request from legislative attorney Jim Troupis to limit his testimony on the grounds of attorney-client privilege.
The plaintiffs have subpoenaed Troupis to explain how the new district lines were drawn in Milwaukee's Hispanic areas. A Hispanic group accused the GOP of trying to dilute the Latinos' influence in the Legislature.
Some Hispanics like the new districts
Not all of Wisconsin’s Hispanics are up in arms about the new state legislative districts drafted and approved by Republicans last year. The Milwaukee group Voces de la Frontera is part of a federal lawsuit against the new maps, claiming that they would dilute Hispanic representation in the Legislature. But another Latino group, Hispanics for Leadership, said Wednesday that it would sue the state if lawmakers agree to changes that Voces de la Frontera is suing for. Zeus Rodriguez said the leadership group believes the Republicans’ maps will help Latinos, not hurt them, because they give Hispanics a decent chance of getting two representatives elected to the Assembly from Milwaukee instead of one.
One of the GOP’s districts at issue is just under 50 percent Hispanic, while another is just over 40 percent. Rodriguez says that’s enough to influence voters to choose Hispanic lawmakers in both districts.