Wisconsin Supreme Court sides with GOP in redistricting case

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A divided Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with Republicans in a redistricting ruling that will lay the groundwork for drawing new political boundary lines.

In a 4-3 ruling, the court’s conservative majority said it will make as few changes as possible to the current maps drawn by Republicans and enacted a decade ago. Democrats and others have argued that those maps are so heavily skewed in favor of Republicans the new legislative and congressional maps should be drawn from scratch.

But the Supreme Court said changes to the current maps should be limited to population shifts made apparent by the once-a-decade census.

States are tasked with redrawing boundary lines every decade after each census. Republicans controlled the Legislature and governor’s office in 2011, the last time it was done. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed the Republican maps this year, putting the battle in court.

There is also a federal lawsuit pending, but that court has said it will defer for now to the state lawsuit.

The Supreme Court previously said it will accept proposed maps until Dec. 15 and then hold arguments on Jan. 15.

Conservative leaning Justices Rebecca Bradley, Brian Hagedorn, Patience Roggensack and Annette Ziegler ruled for the majority. Liberal justices Rebecca Dallet, Ann Walsh Bradley and Jill Karofsky dissented.