 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| IMMIGRANT GROUP ATTORNEY SAYS WISCONSIN POLITICS BEHIND REDISTRICTING APPEAL |
|---|
WPR News - Immigrant group attorney says Wisconsin politics behind redistricting appeal
|
|
Friday April 20, 2012
by Gilman Halsted
|
|
|---|
|
(UNDATED) The attorney for the immigrant advocacy group Voces De La Frontera says he's not surprised the state Justice Department is appealing a court ruling on Milwaukee 's new legislative boundaries.
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen filed an appeal Thursday (4/19) with the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the new redistricting lines drawn by a three judge federal panel last month. Van Hollen gave no specific reason for the appeal. In a news release he wrote that any federal adjustment of state redistricting lines deserves appellate review. Attorney Peter Earle represents Voces De la Frontera the group that successfully challenged the district lines drawn by state Republican legislators. He says there's a reason Van Hollen was vague, "I suspect the reason is he's incapable of articulating a reasonable basis for this appeal J.B. Van Hollen cannot do this in this case. They did not preserve any objections that I can think of that would merit an appeal."
Earle says partisan politics is the only reason he can see for asking the high court to review the case. The federal judges who drew the new lines said their action was necessary to protect the voting rights of Latinos, "That in fact the voting power of the Latino community had been diluted. I think J.B. Van Hollen has conducted this case in a very political way on behalf of Republicans. It's unfortunate an activist Republican attorney general who is antagonistic to the voting rights of the Latino community."
Earle says the Supreme Court could ask for oral arguments in the case but might also simply decide the case based on the legal briefs each side submits.
|
| You can also listen to this story or download it now! |
 |
 |
(1:30) |
|
|
|
