Wisconsin says redistricting should wait until after appeal

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A federal court should redraw Wisconsin’s legislative district maps, not Republican lawmakers, while an appeal of a ruling tossing out the original GOP-created maps moves forward, Democrats argued Wednesday.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice, meanwhile, said no maps should be drawn until after the U.S. Supreme Court hears its appeal of the November ruling striking down the maps as unconstitutionally benefiting Republicans. The Democrats argue new maps should be in place before the next legislative elections in 2018.

The dueling legal filings are the latest moves in the ongoing redistricting case over whether the legislative district maps drawn by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2011 are constitutional or gerrymandered to help the GOP and hurt Democrats. A three-judge panel sided with Democrats last month, but did not order any immediate changes to the boundaries.

Both sides made their recommendations on how to proceed Wednesday. The court was expected to issue a decision in the coming weeks.

Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel, who defended the maps in court, said that the Legislature shouldn’t redraw maps now. Instead, he said the court should first enter an injunction ordering the Legislature to draw maps, but not require them to be created. That would then allow the state to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Coming up with new maps now would be a “waste of resources” given that it won’t be known until after the Supreme Court rules whether a replacement map is needed and what form it will take, Schimel and DOJ attorneys argued.

The Fair Elections Project organized the lawsuit brought by a dozen voters in 2015 challenging the maps. Its attorneys argued that Republicans “illegal conduct in passing and defending” the current maps, and their argument that they are prohibited from redistricting again until after the 2020 Census, are “compelling reasons” for the court to not allow them from drawing the new maps.

Republicans have held onto majority control of both houses of the Legislature since the 2010 election. They added seats this year, giving them their largest Assembly majority since 1957 and the biggest in the Senate since 1971.

The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to come up with a legal standard for deciding when redistricting becomes unconstitutional gerrymandering.

___

Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sbauerAP and find more of his work at https://bigstory.ap.org/content/scott-bauer