Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Blog

U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Gerrymandering Case

Huge news! The United States Supreme Court will hear arguments in the legal battle to bring fair legislative maps to Wisconsin. The case, brought forward by the Wisconsin Fair Elections Project, found that in 2011 Gov. Walker and Republicans created and implemented legislative districts that are so extremely partisan that they violate the U.S. Constitution.

Last year, a panel of federal judges ruled that Scott Walker’s maps are so skewed to favor Republicans that they violate the voting rights of Wisconsin citizens. Now the case is headed to the Supreme Court of the United States.

This case continues to shine a spotlight on the rigged maps and corrupt process used by Gov. Walker and Republicans in 2011. Once they rigged the maps, the majority used secrecy, lawyers and technology to maximize their own political power and partisan advantage, leaving citizens’ constitutional rights and basic fairness in the dust. The impact is clear: Wisconsin has about the same number of Republican and Democratic voters throughout the state and yet Republicans have a disproportionate majority in both the state Senate and Assembly.

The Wisconsin redistricting case has national implications as Scott Walker’s playbook to rig the rules of democracy and stack the deck against citizen rights by gerrymandering districts has been repeated in states across the country.

The Supreme Court will likely hear arguments in October of 2017. We hope that the Court will rein in extreme partisan gerrymandering, which subverts the rights of Wisconsin residents to freely choose our elected representatives at the ballot box. The Justices should move forward aggressively on this case in order to ensure there will be no gerrymandered maps in place in Wisconsin in 2018.  

Constitutional Convention, An Attack on Democracy

This Wednesday, June 14, lawmakers in Madison are expected to vote on a dangerous provision calling for a federal constitutional convention. A constitutional convention would re-open our Constitution, essentially putting our democracy and freedom up for grabs. If a constitution convention is held, at risk are the freedoms and rights we often take for granted such as the Bill of Rights, presidential powers, what policies our government can or cannot do, the rules and roll of Congress and the courts, etc. A constitutional convention could alter absolutely anything and everything about the way the United States is governed.

Two-thirds of states must request a constitutional convention for one to be held. Backed by well-funded and well-organized conservative special interests, provisions calling for a convention have been circulating in states across the country. This week the proposal will be voted on in the Wisconsin Assembly.

Contact your assembly person today and tell them to VOTE NO on holding a constitutional convention. Email or call the legislative hotline at 1-800-362-9472

Opening up our long-treasured and respected U.S. Constitution with a convention is the wrong way to fix our problems. Once you open up our Constitution, special interests can and will insert any sort of undemocratic policy changes they lobby hard enough for with the politicians they fund and these bad policies will then be forever enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. Anything added during a constitutional convention will be extremely hard to reverse. People's rights and freedom are at risk.

Our government is designed to work in a collaborative, democratic way with elected representatives acting on behalf of citizens, open public debate, amendments added in a democratic way, with built in checks and balances to protect the people. A constitutional convention would completely skirt the way our democracy works.

The first and only Constitutional Convention took place in 1787 in Philadelphia and the result was the creation of the U.S. Constitution.

Call the legislative hotline at 1-800-362-9472 or click here to contact your assembly representative and urge them to vote NO on any and all provisions calling for a constitutional convention. Our democracy and freedoms are at risk.