Late Tuesday afternoon, Lady Justice finally returned to Wisconsin after a 15 year absence. Justice Janet Protasiewicz was sworn to her seat on the highest court in Wisconsin. In her speech following the swearing in ceremony, she promised to deliver what she campaigned on, bringing justice back to the state and making sure everyone got a fair shake:
New liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz declared during her investiture ceremony that she is “ready to deliver justice and common sense as a member” of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
She also vowed to follow what she said is “universal to Wisconsinites,” that everyone “should get a fair shot to demand justice – and not feel like the thumb is on the scale against them.”
“We all want a Wisconsin where our freedoms are protected,” Protasiewicz said late yesterday. “We want a Wisconsin with a fair and impartial Supreme Court. We all want to live in communities that are safe. And we all want a Wisconsin where everyone is afforded equal justice under the law.”
On Wednesday, even as Republicans were still clutching their fainting pearls, gnashing their teeth and pulling out their hair, Lady Justice got to work cleaning up the joint. The first area of her focus was the Republican gerrymandering that gave Republicans nearly a supermajority of seats in both houses of the legislature even though they got less than half of the popular vote:
“Since 2012, even when Democrats have won as much as 53% of the statewide vote, they have held no more than 39 of the 99 Assembly seats,” the lawsuit states. “In the same period, even when Republicans have won as little as 44.8% of the statewide vote, they have held no fewer than 60 of the 99 Assembly seats. As intended by the 2011 partisan gerrymander, voting for state legislative districts has no effect on political party control of the state legislature and, therefore, constrains the ability of the people of the State of Wisconsin to effect legislative outcomes by electing representatives of their choice who reflect their preferred policies.”
The suit also notes that in the November 2022 election, Republicans won 64 of 99 Assembly seats and a supermajority in the Senate even as Democrats won three of five statewide elections.
The lawsuit argues that the current gerrymandered maps are not fair because when the Supreme Court arbitrarily picked them, they violated the separation of powers. The lawsuit further argues that voters rights are being violated because some districts have parts not connected to each other:
“It asks the Wisconsin Supreme Court to consider questions that have never been asked before,” Mandell said. “Does partisan gerrymandering violate the Wisconsin state constitutional promise of equal protection, does partisan gerrymandering violate the Wisconsin state constitutional promises of free speech and free assembly, and does partisan gerrymandering violate the state constitutional right to have a free government? To reach these questions, the court will first need to determine that it has the power to adjudicate a challenge to the partisan gerrymander. We strongly believe it can, and it should take this case on. Failure to do so would mean that our constitutional provisions are mere hollow promises, rather than declarations of individual rights.”
Naturally, the Republicans are getting their undies in a bundle, both at the timing of the lawsuit and by the fact that this could threaten their free reign and force them to actually listen to their constituents. Hilariously, Republicans are claiming that wanting to have fairly drawn districts is just a "power grab" by Democrats, without realizing that they are admitting that if there are fair elections, they will lose.
