The Wisconsin state supreme court declined on Friday, to include all redistricting cases in its original jurisdiction. The decision was in response to a petition by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty to fast-track redistricting litigation in the state by having that court conduct a full trial and devise remedies at the outset as opposed to just conducting an appellate review of lower court decisions. Read the court decision here.
The court declined any blanket rule for redistricting challenges and instead indicated that it would decide on whether original jurisdiction applies on a case-by-case basis.
“as drafted, the procedures proposed in this administrative rule petition are unlikely to materially aid this court’s consideration of an as yet undefined future redistricting challenge, and voted to deny the petition. Our decision in this rule matter should not be deemed predictive of this court’s response to a petition for review asking this court to review a lower court’s ruling on a redistricting challenge or a request that we assume original jurisdiction over a future redistricting case or controversy. It remains well-settled that redistricting challenges often merit this court’s exercise of its original jurisdiction.”
