Wisconsin Supreme Court justices on Friday rejected a plan meant to ensure lawsuits over new legislative and congressional district boundaries go to them instead of federal judges.
The court voted to deny a request filed last summer to change state court rules from former Republican Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen and conservative legal firm Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty.
“The court determined that, as drafted, the procedures proposed in this administrative rule petition are unlikely to materially aid this court’s consideration of an as yet undefined future redistricting challenge, and voted to deny the petition,” the order said.
“Our decision in this rule matter should not be deemed predictive of this court’s response to a petition for review asking this court to review a lower court’s ruling on a redistricting challenge or a request that we assume original jurisdiction over a future redistricting case or controversy,” the justices added.
“It remains well-settled that redistricting challenges often merit this court’s exercise of its original jurisdiction.”