In a "shadow docket" opinion yesterday, the majority right-wing Supreme Court rejected a Wisconsin state legislative redistricting map that Governor Tony Evers had proposed, and the state's Supreme Court had approved, that would have provided fairer representation the the state's African-American population. In doing so, the Court sided with the state' Trumpist Republicans in not allowing a "majority minority" district to be created in and around Milwaukee. The op-ed from the WaPo's Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent elaborates:
"On Wednesday, in an unsigned opinion on the 'shadow docket,' the court granted emergency relief to Republicans in Wisconsin, who objected to a new map of legislative districts the state Supreme Court had decided on.
The background is a dispute between the Republican legislature and the Democratic governor over redrawn state legislative maps. Because they failed to agree, it was left to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to decide. It invited submissions while laying out criteria, such as a directive not to depart too dramatically from currently existing maps.
In the end the state Supreme Court chose a map submitted by the governor, which the justices said satisfied their criteria while likely not running afoul of what remains of the VRA. But the U.S. Supreme Court struck that ruling down." (our emphasis)
In other words, the map submitted by Gov. Evers was reasonable and restrained, but the Trumpist Republican Party in Wisconsin saw a disadvantage in restoring the legislative power of African-Americans in the state, even incrementally. As the article points out:
"It’s worth noting that existing Wisconsin state legislative maps are already an absolutely brutal Republican gerrymander. The Democratic governor’s proposed map is only a bit friendlier to Democrats than Republicans preferred." (our emphasis)
The Court could have simply declined to accept the Trumpist Republicans' appeal for a stay, but they decided to put their right-wing thumb on the scale of the political swing-state instead. It also illuminates the Court's use of emergency shadow docket orders to undermine elements of the Voting Rights Act when Republican power is threatened.
