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Brief

Wisconsin Capitol East Gallery, Supreme Court (Keith Ewing | Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0)
The Wisconsin Supreme Court issued an order on Wednesday setting a schedule to take up the state’s voting maps in the event that Gov. Tony Evers and the Legislature do not come to an agreement on a new map — a virtual certainty, since Evers has said he will veto the map passed by the Republican-led Legislature when it reaches his desk.
The Supreme Court will issue an opinion on or about Nov. 30, the order states, answering the question “what factors should we consider in evaluating or creating new maps?” In addition, the court will respond to a request by the petitioners in Johnson v Wisconsin Elections Commission, filed by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, that it take a “least change” approach and maintain as much as possible of the existing voting maps, which heavily favor Republican majorities in the state Legislature. Finally, the court will address the question, “Is the partisan makeup of districts a valid factor for us to consider in evaluating or creating new maps?”
Lawyers must submit maps by mid-December under the schedule set out by the order, with a trial to be set in mid-January.
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