Bothfeld v. Wisconsin Elections Commission

After overturning Wisconsin’s gerrymandered state legislative maps in 2023 in the Clark v. WEC case and ushering in a fair maps election in 2024, Law Forward is now turning its attention to Wisconsin’s congressional maps.

We believe that every Wisconsin voter, no matter where they live or who they are, should have an equal voice when it comes to electing their leaders. While we made progress to improve state legislative maps, our congressional maps are blatantly unconstitutional and need to be redrawn.

Law Forward, along with counsel at Stafford Rosenbaum LLP and the Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School, filed a motion to intervene in Bothfeld v. Wisconsin Elections Commission. This case was brought by Wisconsin voters challenging Wisconsin’s congressional maps as an extreme partisan gerrymander. Our filing makes an additional argument—that the maps are also unconstitutional because they constitute an anti-competitive gerrymander.

Wisconsin’s current congressional maps are so egregiously drawn that the median margin of victory for candidates in races is close to 30 percent.

“The time has now come for the state constitutional protections requiring that districts be drawn to ensure that Wisconsin voters have meaningful choices and fair representation among their elected representatives to be extended to their choices for the U.S. House of Representatives,” said Doug Poland, the leading redistricting attorney in the state of Wisconsin.