Wisconsin's Gerrymandering Fight: A Judge's Misquote

Wisconsin's political landscape is a battleground, with Republicans and Democrats locked in a power struggle over voting districts. The state's congressional map, drawn by Republicans after the 2010 census, heavily favors the GOP, despite the state's nearly even split between the two parties. This imbalance has long been a target for voting rights advocates, who argue that the map unfairly silences Democratic voters. Recently, the Wisconsin Supreme Court took a step towards addressing this issue. The court appointed two panels of judges to review the congressional map and decide if it violates the state constitution. This decision was met with dissent from the court's conservative justices, including Justice Annette Kingsland Ziegler. In her dissent, Ziegler claimed that the U. S. Constitution limits the role of state courts in redistricting. To support this claim, she quoted a recent Supreme Court decision, Moore v. Harper, stating that state courts have an "exceedingly limited" role in congressional redistricting. However, this quote does not appear anywhere in the Moore decision. In fact, the Moore decision held the opposite, affirming that state courts can play a significant role in reviewing congressional maps. The Wisconsin Supreme Court quickly withdrew Ziegler's opinion and issued a corrected version. However, the correction did not acknowledge the misquote. Instead, it removed the quotation marks around "exceedingly limited" but continued to assert that state courts have a limited role in redistricting. This assertion is still inaccurate, as the Moore decision clearly states that state courts can review congressional maps as long as they adhere to their state constitutions. The misquote raises questions about how such an error could occur in a major court opinion. Was it a mistake by a law clerk? Or perhaps an error introduced by artificial intelligence? Regardless of the cause, the mistake undermines Ziegler's argument and highlights the importance of accuracy in legal decisions. The fight over Wisconsin's congressional map is far from over. If the current lawsuit prevails, Democrats could gain up to three seats in the House of Representatives. This would significantly shift the balance of power in the state and could have major implications for future elections.