Redistricting Attorneys Could Be Paid More Than $175,000

The Legislature’s top Republicans have reached agreements with two private law firms that could pay the firms more than $175,000 in taxpayer funds to defend Wisconsin’s legislative maps before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Republicans drew the maps in 2011. In a first-of-its-kind decision late last year, a panel of federal judges found the maps unconstitutional, ruling they had effectively shut Democratic voters out of the political process. Judges also ordered the Legislature to redraw the maps by November 2017.

Republicans plan to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. While Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, a Republican, is already defending the maps, GOP leaders voted earlier this month to give Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos the authority to hire their own lawyers.

One of the agreements released by Fitzgerald’s office would pay the Washington, D.C., firm Kirkland and Ellis a flat $100,000 fee to file an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court. Kirkland and Ellis would charge an additional $75,000 if it files two additional motions.

The other agreement would retain the Madison-based firm of Bell Giftos St. John at a rate of $300 per hour. The firm’s Kevin St. John is a former deputy attorney general for the Wisconsin Department of Justice who defended these maps as a government lawyer the first time they were challenged in court.

While these agreements lay out the parameters for what these private firms would be paid, there’s nothing preventing Fitzgerald and Vos from spending more on lawyers or hiring additional firms in the future.