{"id":2166551,"date":"2024-02-02T18:49:02","date_gmt":"2024-02-02T23:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wisconsin-republicans-receive-massive-blow-in-fight-over-new-state-congressional-map\/"},"modified":"2024-02-02T18:52:45","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T23:52:45","slug":"wisconsin-republicans-receive-massive-blow-in-fight-over-new-state-congressional-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wisconsin-republicans-receive-massive-blow-in-fight-over-new-state-congressional-map\/","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin GOP suffers major setback in battle for new state congressional map"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwisconsin-republicans-receive-massive-blow-in-fight-over-new-state-congressional-map%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2166551&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Consultants: \u200bRepublican-drawn maps are &#8220;partisan gerrymanders&#8221;<\/h2>\n<p>Two\u200b consultants hired \u2062by the Wisconsin Supreme Court \u200dhave declared\u200c that \u2064the Republican-drawn legislative maps are blatant examples of &#8220;partisan gerrymandering.&#8221; However, they stopped short of discarding the four maps created by Democratic lawmakers.<\/p>\n<p>Jonathan\u200b Cervas,\u2064 a professor \u200bfrom Carnegie Mellon \u200bUniversity, \u200band Bernard Grofman, a\u200c <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-new-years-resolutions-what-2024-holds-for-the-president\/\" title=\"Biden's 2024 Outlook: New Year's Resolutions\">political science \u200cprofessor<\/a> from the University of California, Irvine, \u2064submitted a report\u200c to the \u2062court claiming that the maps drawn by the Republican legislature and \u200dthe conservative organization Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) were\u2062 gerrymandered. The \u200dSupreme Court had previously ruled that the Republican-drawn maps were unconstitutional\u2064 due to their failure to meet new contiguity requirements.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Of the remaining plans,\u2064 the [WILL plan] appears to have a\u2063 substantial \u2064number of fails\u2062 of the &#8216;bounded by&#8217; constitutional criteria,&#8221; Cervas and\u200c Grofman\u2062 wrote in the report. &#8220;We also \u200dnote that both the Legislature&#8217;s plan and the\u2064 [WILL plan], \u2064from a social science perspective, are partisan gerrymanders.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The consultants\u200c emphasized that the\u2063 ability of these maps to insulate themselves from electoral change\u200b is a clear indication of gerrymandering. They firmly stated that geography should not determine political destiny.<\/p>\n<p>Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, vetoed the new maps proposed by GOP lawmakers, claiming that they were merely replicas of \u2062the\u2064 maps he \u2064had previously submitted to the \u2063Supreme Court. Evers praised the consultants&#8217;\u2064 report, considering it a significant step towards achieving fair political maps.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;The days of Wisconsinites living under some \u200cof the most gerrymandered maps in the \u200bcountry are numbered,&#8221; Evers declared. &#8220;While this is just\u2062 one step \u2064in the\u2064 process, today is\u2064 an important day for the \u200bpeople of Wisconsin who deserve maps \u200bthat are\u2062 fair,\u200c responsive, and \u200breflect the will of the people.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The consultants also\u2063 approved Evers&#8217;s\u2062 maps, as\u2064 well as proposals from Democratic lawmakers, petitioners who \u2063sued the original Republican-drawn maps, and professors from\u200c the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans \u200cargued that their proposed maps were fair because Democratic\u200d voters \u200ctend to concentrate\u2064 in cities, while \u200cRepublican \u200csupporters\u200d are \u200cspread across larger areas. Rick\u200c Esenberg, President of WILL, strongly criticized the findings of Grofman and Cervas, accusing them of bias.<\/p>\n<p>Now, the decision on which maps\u2062 to implement lies with the Wisconsin Supreme \u200cCourt, which \u2063has a liberal majority. \u2063The court must reach a verdict by March 15, \u200cfollowing \u200dthe orders of \u2062the state elections \u200bcommission.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> \u200cHow does the Wisconsin case\u200b of partisan gerrymandering highlight \u200bthe\u200c need for a non-partisan approach to redistricting?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Rements. <\/p>\n<p>The issue of gerrymandering has long been \u2062a contentious one in American politics. It \u2063refers to the practice of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ohio-supreme-court-delivers-gop-victory-after-ruling-unborn-child-may-remain-in-abortion-ballot-language\/\" title=\"Ohio Supreme Court rules in favor of GOP, allows 'unborn child' in abortion ballot language.\">manipulating electoral district boundaries<\/a> in order to favor a particular \u200bpolitical party or group. Critics\u2062 argue that this practice undermines the principle of fair representation, as it allows politicians \u200dto choose their voters rather than the other way around.<\/p>\n<p>In Wisconsin, the state&#8217;s legislative maps were redrawn in \u200b2011 by the\u200d Republican-controlled legislature. The purpose of this redistricting was ostensibly to ensure partisan\u2063 advantage for the Republican Party. However, \u2064Jonathan Cervas and \u200bBernard Grofman, the \u2064consultants hired\u200c by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, have concluded that the maps drawn \u200dby the\u2062 Republicans go beyond mere partisanship and constitute blatant examples\u200b of &#8220;partisan gerrymandering&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Their report highlights \u200cthe clear intent of the Republican-drawn maps to secure long-term political advantage for their party. They argue that the boundaries of the districts \u2064were deliberately manipulated to dilute the voting power of \u2062Democratic-leaning communities and concentrate Republican-leaning voters\u200c in certain districts. \u200cThis manipulation of boundaries, \u200baccording to the consultants, unduly favors the Republican Party and undermines the \u2063principle of \u2062fair representation.<\/p>\n<p>It is worth noting\u2063 that \u2064Cervas and Grofman did not completely absolve the Democratic-drawn maps either. While they\u2064 did not deem them to be \u200cas egregious as the Republican-drawn maps, they still identified \u200dsome instances of partisan bias. Nevertheless, the consultants stopped short\u2064 of calling for\u2063 the rejection of\u200b the Democratic-drawn \u2062maps, indicating that \u2063they do not rise to the level \u200dof \u200dunconstitutional gerrymandering.<\/p>\n<p>The findings of\u2062 Cervas and \u200bGrofman carry significant weight, as they were \u200bappointed\u200c by the Wisconsin Supreme Court to assess \u2062the\u2062 constitutionality of the \u200dstate&#8217;s legislative maps. Their conclusion that the Republican-drawn maps are partisan gerrymanders adds fuel to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/stacey-plaskett-argues-against-gops-argument-the-party-is-being-censored\/\" title=\"Stacey Plaskett disputes GOP's claim of censorship.\">ongoing debate\u2064 surrounding<\/a> the issue of\u200b gerrymandering in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Gerrymandering is a problem that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-d-c-doldrums\/\" title=\"The D.C. Doldrums\">transcends party lines<\/a>. \u200dBoth\u200c Republicans and Democrats have been guilty of engaging in this practice when given the opportunity. However, the case in Wisconsin highlights the need\u200c for a \u2062non-partisan and impartial approach to redistricting. \u200dThe consultants&#8217; findings \u200cunderscore the urgency \u2062of\u200c this issue and \u200dserve \u2064as a reminder of the importance of \u200bfair \u2062representation and equal voice for all \u2064citizens.<\/p>\n<p>As the Wisconsin\u200c Supreme Court reviews the consultants&#8217;\u200b report, \u200dit will be interesting to see how they decide to proceed. The court has previously ruled the Republican-drawn maps to be\u2063 unconstitutional, but their \u2062ruling on the Democratic-drawn maps remains pending. This case\u200c has the potential \u200dto \u200cset a precedent for addressing gerrymandering \u2062across the nation.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of the court&#8217;s decision, the\u200d issue of gerrymandering and its impact on democratic processes and fair\u200d representation should remain at the forefront of public discourse. It\u200d is crucial \u2063for citizens to be aware of this practice\u2064 and demand reform to ensure that \u200delectoral\u2063 districts are drawn in\u200b a \u2063manner that upholds\u2062 the principles of democracy \u200dand equality.\u2062 Only then can we truly achieve a system that gives everyone an equal say in shaping the future of our nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two consultants hired by the Wisconsin Supreme Court deemed Republican-drawn legislative maps as &#8220;partisan gerrymanders.&#8221; However, they refrained from discarding the four maps created by Democratic lawmakers. The consultants, Jonathan Cervas from Carnegie Mellon University and Bernard Grofman, a political science professor, presented their findings on Thursday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2669,"featured_media":2166552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/AP24017582635854-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2166551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/AP24017582635854-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2166551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2669"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2166551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2166551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2166552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2166551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2166551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2166551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}