BREAKING: Supreme Court says Wisconsin Supreme Court erred in interpreting Voting Rights Act and Equal Protection Clause precedents when adopting state legislative maps

The Court’s per curiam opinion in Wisconsin Legislature v. Wisconsin Elections Commission is here. Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justice Kagan, dissented. (More coverage to come later today.) The bottom line:

We agree that the court committed legal error in its application of decisions of this Court regarding the relationship between the constitutional guarantee of equal protection and the VRA. We accordingly construe the application for stay presented to JUSTICE BARRETT and by her referred to the Court as a petition for certiorari, grant the petition, reverse the imposition of the Governor’s State Assembly and Senate maps, and remand to the Wisconsin Supreme Court for proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion. Summarily correcting the error gives the court sufficient time to adopt maps consistent with the timetable for Wisconsin’s August 9th primary election.

The Court also rejected a challenge to Wisconsin’s congressional districts, with no noted dissents, here.

UPDATE: Rick H. offers his critique of the opinion here. And early coverage from Reuters.

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