MADISON – Today, on behalf of Wisconsin voters in 34 legislative districts, Rathje Woodward LLC and co-counsel renewed their challenge of the state’s 2011 assembly map. The voters contend the map constitutes an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.
The case was brought in July 2015 against election officials who redrew the legislative map following the 2010 census. After a federal court trial to a three-judge panel, the voters won an order enjoining defendants from using the map in future elections. Defendants sought to overturn that ruling in a closely-watched appeal to the US Supreme Court. In June of this year, the Supreme Court declined to decide the constitutionality of the map and instead vacated the decision, holding that the 12 named voters who brought suit lacked standing to challenge the boundaries of legislative districts in which none of them lived. The Supreme Court rejected defendants’ request to dismiss the case and instead remanded the case for further proceedings. The Amended Complaint is designed to address the standing concerns the Supreme Court raised, including the addition of 28 plaintiffs so that voters from each of the state’s 34 legislative districts are represented in the suit.
The Rathje Woodward team is led by Doug Poland and Alison Stites. Rathje Woodward’s co-counsel includes: the Campaign Legal Center; Peter G. Earle of the Law Office of Peter G. Earle LLC; Michele L. Odorizzi of Mayer Brown LLP; Nicholas O. Stephanopoulos of the University of Chicago Law School; and Jessica R. Amunson of Jenner & Block LLP.
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