Democracy in Wisconsin is at stake. Our current gerrymandered legislative maps distort the political landscape, stifle voters’ voices, block popular policies, disempower vulnerable communities, and are unconstitutional.
On Nov. 21, 2023 Law Forward – with co-counsels Stafford Rosenbaum, the Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School, Campaign Legal Center, and Arnold & Porter – argued in front of the Wisconsin State Supreme Court challenging the extreme partisan gerrymandering of Wisconsin’s legislative maps.
In Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, we argued that Wisconsin’s maps are clearly unconstitutional because a majority of the districts are non-contiguous and that the maps violate the Separation of Powers Principle.
Wisconsin Constitution Article IV, sections 4 and 5 explicitly requires districts to be contiguous, but over half of Wisconsin’s current Assembly districts, and two-thirds of our Senate districts, violate this basic provision.
Voters, local electeds, advocacy groups, and legal scholars all agree that these maps are unconstitutional.
Additionally, the Petitioners have laid out a fair and efficient process to draw nonpartisan legislative maps.
The court needs to do its job and throw these maps out without delay.
