Judges hold hearings on Wisconsin map lawsuits, but signal decisions will take time

Two state judicial panels held their first hearings Friday on lawsuits claiming Wisconsin’s eight U.S. House districts are unconstitutional, but they sent signals that the cases may not be resolved by the 2026 midterms.

While both lawsuits are being filed by liberal firms, the attorneys handling the cases are raising different arguments and suggesting very different timelines.

Should judges in both cases follow a more protracted schedule, neither would be resolved until 2027.

Democratic firm Elias Law Group calls for new maps before 2026 midterm

One lawsuit, filed by the national Democratic firm Elias Law Group on behalf of Wisconsin voters, argues Republicans gerrymandered the state’s eight congressional districts so six of them favor GOP candidates. Elias Attorney Julie Zuckerbrod called for scheduling the case in two phases so that a new map could be enacted before November 2026.

An attorney for the Wisconsin Elections Commission told judges it needs to know what that map looks like before March 1. Attorneys representing the state’s six Republican congressmen and the GOP-controlled Legislature said that’s impossible.

Zuckerbrod said “it’s absolutely possible” and pointed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s 2023 decision striking down Republican-drawn state Assembly and Senate maps as a roadmap. She said in that case, justices considered legal arguments for what new legislative maps should look like “over the course of just a couple weeks.”

Attorney Kevin LeRoy, who represents the Republican congressmen, said the speed used by the Supreme Court in 2023 wouldn’t be appropriate.

Liberal firm Law Forward agrees with 2027 trial date in ‘anti-competitive gerrymander’ suit

The other lawsuit, filed by the liberal firm Law Forward on behalf of a group called Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy, argues Wisconsin’s congressional map was drawn to favor incumbents above all else.

But in a hearing on that case Friday, all parties agreed on a calendar stretching well past the 2026 midterms with a potential trial date of March 29, 2027.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge David Conway, one of the three judges considering that lawsuit, thanked the attorneys for the joint scheduling recommendations, noting that he and the two other county judges on the panel will work as quickly as possible.

“Nevertheless, we’re circuit court judges,” Conway said. “We do not have the resources of federal court judges. We don’t have a full staff of clerks, and we’re going to need time to work across county lines to make decisions together.”

In the other case being brought by Elias, Dane County Judge Julie Genovese signaled her panel may follow a similar timeline.

“We’ll do the best that we can,” Genovese said. “But you know, we have to digest these issues.”

Attorneys representing Republicans have already filed motions to dismiss both congressional map lawsuits

While the work of the judicial panels has just started, the judges have already been presented with motions to dismiss from attorneys representing Republicans in the case.

Even before the Supreme Court appointed the judges, the GOP congressmen and Legislature argued panels of circuit court judges can’t even rule on the House map because it was enacted by the Supreme Court’s former conservative majority in 2022. Attorneys with Law Forward and Elias Law Group rejected that argument.

Map lawsuits part of nationwide redistricting battle for control of Congress

While the U.S. Constitution mandates that voting districts be redrawn once a decade to address population changes noted in the U.S. Census, a host of states controlled by Republicans and Democrats  are passing new congressional maps in what is known as “mid-decade” redistricting in order boost their preferred parties chances ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

At President Donald Trump’s request, Texas passed a new House map aimed at giving Republicans more safe districts earlier this year. California followed suit and is now redrawing it’s congressional districts to bolster Democrats 2026 odds.

On Thursday, several Republicans in Indiana’s state Senate sided with Democrats and rejected a proposed map designed at making the state’s nine congressional districts safe GOP seats.