A Supreme Court decision expected this spring will likely impact the way every state draws its political boundaries. ‘Gill versus Whitford’ involves the way Wisconsin Republicans drew the state’s political map in 2011. The process of drawing the maps, done by outside consultants and lawyers, was done in complete secrecy, and resulted in an overwhelming Republican advantage at the polls. A panel of three federal judges ruled two-to-one that the Republicans were unfair, and the case wound up in the Supreme Court. Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, says the result of the gerrymandering is the opposite of what should be happening.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the Wisconsin mapmakers “drew and rejected maps until they came up with one that maximized Republican chances, and then it succeeded beyond their expectations.”
A few months ago, the Supreme Court added a Maryland gerrymandering case to the Wisconsin case.
Heck believes the Maryland case was added to the Wisconsin case for a specific reason.
If the Supreme Court rules the political maps unconstitutional, it will affect nearly every other state, and will force Wisconsin to redraw its political boundaries in a more fair manner.
