(John Ransom, Headline USA) The Wisconsin Supreme Court in a 4-3 ruling said that the state will adopt the election maps generated by the Republican lawmakers, rather than the maps proposed by Democrat Gov. Tony Evers.
In their ruling, the court said that there was insufficient evidence provided by the Democrats to support the idea that maps should be constructed on the basis of race, said local Channel 3000.
“The maps proposed by the Governor, Senator Bewley, BLOC, and CMS are racially motivated and, under the Equal Protection Clause, do not survive strict scrutiny,” said the majority decision authored by Chief Justice Annette Ziegler.
BREAKING: “Therefore, we adopt the state senate and assembly maps proposed by the Legislature for the State of Wisconsin.” Wisconsin Supreme Court in rejecting @GovEvers race-based state political maps. https://t.co/L3qX0gnu6h #wiright #wipolitics
— Empower Wisconsin (@EmpowerWi) April 15, 2022
“By contrast, the maps proposed by the Wisconsin Legislature are race neutral. The Legislature’s maps comply with the Equal Protection Clause, along with all other applicable federal and state legal requirements,” Ziegler added.
Increasingly, Democrats are arguing in favor of race-based election maps, that seek to give black voters more representation.
However, Republicans argue that maps made that consider race violate the Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution, diluting other racial groups such as Hispanics and whites.
Democrats argue that by ignoring race, the practical effect is to dilute the black vote.
“I’ve stated it, and I’ll state it again — we drew these maps race blind,” state Sen. Joan Huffman, a Republican from Texas, told the public about a similar fight between the parties in Texas, according to the Texas Tribune.
“We have not looked at any racial data as we drew these maps, and to this day I have not looked at any racial data,” added Huffman.
Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis also chose to go with “race neutral” election maps, recently saying that using race to stretch districts into hundreds of miles with unrelated interests based on race is wrong.
“We are not going to have a 200-mile gerrymander that divides people by the color of their skin. That is wrong,” said DeSantis, according to local FortMyersBeach.net.
Apparently, the Wisconsin Supreme Court agrees with Gov. DeSantis.
