MADISON – The state Supreme Court on Nov. 25 appointed two three-judge panels to hear lawsuits from liberal groups challenging Wisconsin’s congressional lines before the 2026 elections, sparking outrage from conservative justices who noted the court has rejected earlier cases.
The lawsuits, filed in July by two liberal law firms in Dane County Circuit Court, follow multiple failed attempts to redraw the state’s congressional districts, which are currently represented by six Republicans and two Democrats.
In orders issued Nov. 25, the liberal-led court concluded the complaints constitute “an action to challenge the apportionment of any congressional or state legislative district” under a 2011 state law that requires such challenges to be heard by a panel appointed by the state’s high court.
Under the court’s orders, a case filed by Wisconsin voters will be heard by Dane County Circuit Judge Julie Genovese, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Mark Sanders and Outagamie County Circuit Judge Emily Lonergan.
The other, filed by Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy, will be heard by Dane County Circuit Judge David Conway, Portage County Circuit Judge Patricia Baker and Marathon County Circuit Judge Michael Moran.
Dane County will be the venue for all future proceedings.
Under state law, any appeals to the panels’ decisions may only be considered by the state Supreme Court.
Conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn both concurred with and dissented to the majority’s decisions, agreeing the court was obligated under state law to appoint the panels.
However, he argued, rather than keeping the cases in Dane County, the panels’ judges and venues should have been randomly selected in order to meet the 2011 law’s “implicit call for geographic diversity and neutrality.”
“To be clear, I am not suggesting the judicial panel will fail to do its job with integrity and impartiality. But this approach is an odd choice in the face of a statute so clearly designed to deter litigants from selecting their preferred venue and judge,” Hagedorn wrote.
Dissents from conservative Justices Annette Ziegler and Rebecca Bradley were more pointed.
Ziegler accused the liberal majority of “disregarding the United States Constitution, the Wisconsin Constitution, and fundamental legal principles” in allowing the lawsuits to proceed. The move was “glaringly unconstitutional,” Bradley wrote.
The state’s current congressional lines were drawn by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. The state Supreme Court approved his set of maps in 2022 because it made the fewest changes compared to ones submitted by Republicans and others.
Ziegler noted the state Supreme Court has previously rejected efforts to reconsider the current congressional maps.
The court’s order “places this three-judge panel in the impossible position of considering ‘apportionment’ without any authority to reconsider or overturn our precedent,” Ziegler wrote. Bradley argued the court’s order results in a “constitutional impossibility.”
“The Wisconsin Constitution plainly prohibits a circuit court — empaneled by this court or not — from adjudicating a challenge to a final judgment of the supreme court. The majority, nevertheless, entertains yet another kick at the redistricting cat,” Bradley wrote. “Unlike Schrödinger’s cat, this one most assuredly has been dead for years.”
(This story was updated to add new information.)
Jessie Opoien can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Supreme Court names judges to hear lawsuits on congressional maps
Reporting by Jessie Opoien, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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