New judicial panels to hear Wisconsin redistricting lawsuits for the first time

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Two lawsuits seeking to redraw Wisconsin’s congressional districts were scheduled to be discussed in court Friday as a pair of three-judge panels, never-before-used in the state, meet for the first time.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court last month ordered that the redistricting cases be first heard by the three-judge panels, employing a process created by Republicans in 2011 but never utilized. Friday’s hearings were to determine a schedule for moving forward in both cases.

Attorneys in one case submitted a proposed schedule with a potential trial in February 2027, while attorneys in the other case have been pushing for resolution before the 2026 midterms. It will be up to each panel of judges to set the schedule for the cases and they may not have the same deadlines.

Any final rulings of those panels on the merits of the cases can be appealed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which is controlled 4-3 by liberal justices.

Both pending redistricting cases in Wisconsin argue that the state’s congressional maps, first adopted in 2011, are an unconstitutional gerrymander favoring Republicans. Six of the state’s eight districts are currently held by Republicans.

The court battle in Wisconsin is playing out amid a national redistricting battle as President Donald Trump is trying to preserve a slim Republican majority in the House in next year’s elections.

One case was brought by a bipartisan coalition of business leaders, and the other was filed on behalf of voters by the liberal Elias Law Group, which wants new maps in place for 2026. Law Forward and the Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School, which represents the business group, proposed a timeline they said was reached in agreement with defendants that would push final resolution of the case into early 2027.

The Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy argues in its lawsuit that Wisconsin’s congressional maps are unconstitutional because they are an anti-competitive gerrymander. The lawsuit notes that the median margin of victory for candidates in the eight districts since the maps were enacted is close to 30 percentage points.

“In a 50-50 state, it makes no sense that 75% of Wisconsin seats in the House of Representatives are controlled by one party,” Law Forward said in a summary of its lawsuit on its website.

The other case, filed on behalf of Democratic voters, contends the current maps discriminate against Democrats. They do so by packing a substantial number of Democrats into two districts while breaking up other Democratic areas into six Republican-favorable districts.

The current map violates the state constitution’s guarantees of equal protection, separation of powers, the promise to maintain a free government, and the right to free speech and association, the lawsuit contends.

They are pushing for new district boundaries in time for the 2026 election.

In 2010, the year before Republicans redrew the congressional maps, Democrats held five seats compared with three for Republicans. Republicans hold six of the state’s eight U.S. House seats, but only two are considered competitive.

The current congressional maps, which were based on the ones drawn in 2010, were approved by the state Supreme Court when it was controlled by conservative judges. The U.S. Supreme Court in March 2022 declined to block them from taking effect.

A top target for Democrats is the western Wisconsin seat held by Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden. He won in 2022 after longtime Democratic Rep. Ron Kind retired. Van Orden won reelection in the 3rd District in 2024.

The other seat Democrats are hoping to make more competitive is southeastern Wisconsin’s 1st District, held by Republican Rep. Bryan Steil since 2019. The latest maps made that district more competitive while still favoring Republicans.