BOARD RECOMMENDS PANEL TO RESOLVE FUTURE REDISTRICTING DISPUTES

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld

By Michael Horne

[The following dispatch sounds boring now, and it shall remain so in the future, but it is also vitally important as we face the countdown to Election 2012 -- Ed.]
Five years after a 2002 lawsuit filed by Scott Jensen and Mary Panzer prompted its formation, a special Wisconsin Redistricting Committee has suggested creation of a panel of judges to devise new legislative or congressional districts in the event the 2011-2012 legislature does not enact a redistricting plan and a lawsuit challenging the existing districting is filed.
"As a practical matter, we think that litigation after the 2010 census is likely," said the seven member committee in a just-released draft report dated September 21st, 2007.
This forward looking committee of political scientists and law professors was founded at the request of Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court Shirley Abrahamson to avoid the problems in the 2000 redistricting of Colorado and Texas where redistricted legislatures re-redistricted their states' court-drawn maps to gain further partisan advantage.
"This ... could have implications for Wisconsin because the Wisconsin state Legislature has revised districting drawn by the Wisconsin Supreme Court," the committee members wrote in their report.
Redistricting is "an inherently political process," the members found, adding "criticisms of the process abound: incumbents draw safe districts that make them unbeatable; parties try to maximize the number of seats they are sure to win, and because of the inability of the Legislature to agree upon a plan, the courts are left with the task of drawing maps."
Lawsuits "have become a routine part of the redistricting process," the members said, citing a National Conference of State Legislatures survey that found 150 lawsuits in 40 states challenging redistricting plans.
These suits may be filed in State or Federal courts, depending on the plaintiffs' perceived chance of success.
In Wisconsin, the last redistricting completed without "substantial judicial intervention" was in 1931. Federal judges drew state legislative districts in the 1980s, 1990s and in 2000s. The State Supreme Court drew the lines in the 1960s and almost did so in the 1970s when a court-imposed deadline forced the legislature to act.
The committee suggests future redistricting, in the likely event of a legislative impasse and court challenge, would be handled by a Special Court consisting of the presiding judge of each of the state's four Appeals Court districts as of January 1, 2012 and a fifth member to be randomly selected from a statewide pool of reserve Court of Appeals judges. There are provisions for alternative selections from Appeals Court judges in the event any chose to recuse themselves.
Maps created by the panel would be considered binding, with appeals to be heard by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Here is a link to the report:
070925.redistricting.pdf
[The committee members who signed the draft report are R. Booth Fowler, UW-Emeritus; Donald Kotecki, St. Norbert College; Kenneth Mayer, UW; Ed Miller, UW Stevens Point and Peter Rofes, Marquette. Committee members Juliet Brodie, UW; and Ron Weber, UW Milwaukee apparently did not sign the report.]