Top House Democrat says liberal Supreme Court majority only path to revisit Wisconsin’s congressional maps

The top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives says Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election is vital because the only way to challenge “gerrymandered” congressional voting maps is “if you have an enlightened Supreme Court” overseeing a legal challenge.

Republicans say it’s proof Democrats are planning to redraw maps if liberal Dane County Judge Susan Crawford wins on April 1. Crawford’s campaign says she’s never commented on congressional redistricting and the GOP is trying to distract from Elon Musk’s support for conservative Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel.

During a Democratic National Committee update Monday afternoon, New York House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries talked with DNC Chair Ken Martin about the importance of Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election next Tuesday. Martin said Democrats “have to win” it.

Jeffries elaborated on why.

“Because there are gerrymandered congressional lines right now in Wisconsin,” Jeffries said.

He cited the makeup of the state’s congressional delegation as proof. Jeffries said past election results show Wisconsin is a “50/50 state” in terms of support for Republican and Democratic candidates, “but there are six Republicans and only two Democrats out of an eight person delegation, because the lines are broken.”

While the Supreme Court election is technically nonpartisan, Jeffries referred to Crawford as a “strong Democratic candidate” and said the state’s congressional voting maps need to be revisited “as soon as possible.”

“The only way for that to be even a significant possibility is if you have an enlightened Supreme Court,” Jeffries said. “And so, you know, I think that’s an incredibly important race.”

Jeffries’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on what he meant by “enlightened.”

Schimel’s campaign called Jeffries’ comments a “stunning development” and said he “exposed the Democratic Party’s plan to use Susan Crawford to gerrymander Wisconsin’s Congressional map to flip two seats to Democrats.”

The Republican Party of Wisconsin accused Jeffries of saying “the quiet part out loud.” 

Redistricting: A familiar theme in recent Supreme Court elections

It’s not the first time Republicans have claimed Democrats are hoping to shrink the GOP’s House majority amid Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election. In January, they accused Crawford of “selling” two House seats because she participated in a Democratic donor call advertised as a “chance to put two more House seats in play for 2026.” 

In a statement, Crawford’s campaign spokesperson Derrick Honeyman said the Dane County judge “has never publicly or privately commented on congressional redistricting.”

“On the Supreme Court, her pledge is to remain fair and impartial on any case that comes before her,” Honeyman said. “This is just a desperate attempt by Schimel to distract from his own pandering to Elon Musk, who has kicked in $18 million and counting to buy Brad a seat.”

Schimel has benefited from at least $11 million in spending by political action committees with ties to Musk. The most recent campaign finance reports show the world’s richest man donated $2 million to the state Republican party last week. Spending in this year’s court race has exceeded $76 million, according to WisPolitics. 

During a forum with Musk and Schimel on Saturday, Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said if Republicans win April 1, “we have to thank Elon for all the support he’s given this race.”

The previous spending record for a Wisconsin Supreme Court race was set in 2023, when now Justice Janet Protasiewicz went defeated former conservative Justice Dan Kelly, ushering in the court’s first liberal majority in 15 years.

Unsurprisingly, redistricting was a top issue in that race. Months after Protasiewicz was sworn in, the court’s liberal majority declared Republican-drawn state Assembly and Senate maps unconstitutional and ordered new maps to be drawn. 

Rick Hasen is an election law and political science professor at the UCLA School of Law. He told WPR gerrymandering and redistricting are “one of the things that divides the liberals and conservatives on the state Supreme Court.”

“Liberals are more likely than conservatives to think that courts should be in the business of reigning in partisan gerrymandering,” Hasen said. “But the issue could be complicated by the question of whether or not one or more justices would see a need to recuse because of the support of the parties of various candidates, even though they’re not officially party elections.”

Wisconsin’s judicial code leaves recusal decisions up to judges and justices. Neither Crawford nor Schimel have cited specific examples of cases in which they would step aside.

In 2023, Republicans demanded Protasiewicz recuse herself from any redistricting cases because of millions in donations she received from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin during her race and campaign comments she made on the state’s GOP-drawn maps. She did not, and while some GOP state lawmakers toyed with the idea of impeaching her, it never happened. 

Supreme Court has already rejected a congressional maps challenge

Shortly after liberal justices struck down Republicans’ state legislative maps in December 2023, national Democratic law firm Elias Group filed a lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s congressional maps and asked the Supreme Court to take it up immediately. Those maps were actually drawn by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in 2021, but under a directive from the court’s former conservative majority to make the “least changes” possible to congressional districts drawn and passed by Republicans in 2011.

The argument from Elias was that because the liberal majority in 2023 ruled the “least changes” approach “lacks any basis in Wisconsin redistricting law or precedent” with regard to state legislative maps, the same should hold true for Evers’ congressional districts.

The firm’s request was denied by justices in an unsigned, unanimous order. Protasiewicz did not participate in that decision. She said she stayed out because she wasn’t a member of the court when it approved Evers’ congressional maps.

Protasiewicz’ decision left the court split 3-3 between conservatives and liberals making it exceedingly unlikely they’d agree to reopen the 2022 redistricting case.

Protasiewicz declined to comment on whether she would participate in any future cases involving Wisconsin’s congressional maps.