Wisconsin Legislature v. Wisconsin Elections Commission
Headline: Court reverses Wisconsin high court’s adoption of the Governor’s race-conscious legislative maps and sends map-drawing back to state court before the August primary, blocking the maps from taking effect.
Holding: The Court reversed the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s selection of the Governor’s maps, finding legal error in applying Equal Protection and VRA standards and remanding for reconsideration.
- Blocks the Governor’s selected Assembly and Senate maps from taking effect.
- Requires clearer, district-level evidence before using race to draw legislative districts.
- Sends map-drawing back to state court ahead of Wisconsin’s August primary.
Summary
Background
The Wisconsin Legislature passed new Assembly and Senate maps after the 2020 census but the Governor vetoed them. The Wisconsin Supreme Court invited parties to submit maps and selected the Governor’s maps, which added a seventh majority-Black Assembly district in Milwaukee. The Governor said the Voting Rights Act required that extra majority-Black district; the state court concluded the maps were acceptable because the VRA might demand the change and the maps minimized other changes.
Reasoning
The U.S. Supreme Court concluded the Wisconsin Supreme Court misapplied this Court’s rules about when race can drive district lines. The majority said the lower court relied on uncertain, generalized findings instead of the detailed, district-level evidence our precedents require under the Equal Protection Clause and the Voting Rights Act framework. The Court reversed the selection of the Governor’s Assembly and Senate maps and remanded for further proceedings consistent with its opinion.
Real world impact
The decision prevents the Governor’s chosen maps from standing and sends the matter back to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to reconsider or take more evidence. The U.S. Supreme Court emphasized that any race-based mapmaking must rest on a strong, district-level factual record and fit the Court’s strict review. The majority noted this summary correction still leaves time for the state court to act before Wisconsin’s August 9 primary.
Dissents or concurrances
Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justice Kagan, dissented, calling the summary reversal unprecedented and arguing the state-court process and posture were different and deserved further development before this Court intervened.
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