WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has thrown out Wisconsin state legislative maps that were preferred by the state’s Democratic governor and selected by Wisconsin’s top court.
Republicans had complained that Gov. Tony Evers’ maps moved too many people to create more districts with a majority of Black and Hispanic voters in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan disagreed with the court's decision.
Writing a dissenting opinion, Sotomayor said, "This Court’s intervention today is not only extraordinary but also unnecessary."
But while the justices in an unsigned opinion threw out voting maps drawn for the State Assembly and Senate, they left in place state congressional maps.
The decision came down while Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was in the middle of her confirmation hearings. Senator Amy Klobuchar decried the decision. She criticized the court for the "increasing practice of using the shadow docket to decide cases that have grave consequences for our democracy."
In the shadows again. Think I’ll mention it!! Like now. https://t.co/BSq1bYHHhH
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) March 23, 2022