Wisconsin Redistricting Battle Intensifies as Governor Vetoes GOP Proposal

Republicans urge Supreme Court Justice Protasiewicz to recuse herself from redistricting case, citing potential bias

Wisconsin Democratic Governor Tony Evers vetoed a redistricting proposal passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature, escalating the fight over legislative and congressional maps.
Five of Wisconsin’s Republican members of Congress and the GOP-controlled Legislature have asked the newest liberal member of the state Supreme Court, Justice Janet Protasiewicz, not to hear a lawsuit that seeks to redraw congressional district maps.
Republicans argue that Protasiewicz's public campaign statements and the nearly $10 million her campaign received from the Wisconsin Democratic Party establish a constitutionally intolerable risk that she has prejudged the merits of the case.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court, which last month declared the current Republican-drawn legislative maps as unconstitutional, is under a tight deadline to consider the challenge, with new maps needing to be in place by March 15.
The current congressional maps in Wisconsin were drawn by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and approved by the state Supreme Court, with the U.S. Supreme Court declining to block them from taking effect in March 2022.