Overview
- The 5-2 ruling sets the venue for two challenges to Wisconsin’s congressional districts without addressing the legality of the maps ahead of the 2026 midterms.
- Conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn agreed the law requires three-judge panels but criticized the majority for assigning judges instead of using a neutral selection method.
- Justices Annette Ziegler and Rebecca Bradley dissented, with Ziegler calling the judge assignments partisan political maneuvering.
- One case will be heard by Judges David Conway (Dane), Patricia Baker (Portage) and Michael Moran (Marathon); the other by Judges Julie Genovese (Dane), Mark Sanders (Milwaukee) and Emily Lonergan (Outagamie).
- Several assigned judges previously endorsed Justice Susan Crawford or were appointed by Gov. Tony Evers, Crawford and Justice Janet Protasiewicz declined to recuse, and the suits—brought by a business coalition and by voters represented by the Elias Law Group—target a map that gives Republicans six of eight U.S. House seats.