Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: U.S. Supreme Court tosses Wisconsin's legislative maps.
Wednesday's ruling leaves uncertain what maps will be used for the fall elections for the state Senate and Assembly. The Wisconsin high court will now have to revisit the case to decide where to put the lines. Slate: The U.S. Supreme Court's decision on Wisconsin's maps deals astonishing blow to Voting Rights Act. As Justice Sonia Sotomayor explained in a dissent joined by Justice Elena Kagan, this decision is “unprecedented,” “extraordinary,” and “unnecessary.” One fundamental problem is that, until now, no party raised an equal protection challenge to the legislative map. So Hagedorn had no opportunity to conduct a full constitutional analysis. Instead, in the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Republicans agreed that the VRA required multiple majority-Black districts in Milwaukee. They then ambushed the courts with last-minute complaints about an alleged racial gerrymander. SCOTUS rewarded their behavior, accusing Hagedorn of failing to undertake an analysis that no party asked him to undertake. There is “no precedent,” Sotomayor wrote, requiring a court “to embark on an independent inquiry into matters that the parties have conceded or not contested.” Brookings: How to fix a partisan Supreme Court. There is a better way—advocates should feature an item further down their list of possible court reforms—strengthening judicial ethics, conflict of interest, and good practice and procedure standards. Spotlighting these issues, and proposing to update and tighten existing requirements, would be more constructive, more likely to attract broad congressional support, and to resonate more broadly with the public. If judicial ethics reform measures meet stiff Republican resistance, ensuing battles could be framed to alert constituencies whose pocket-book, health, safety, and environmental interests are threatened by the judicial right’s “wrecking ball” project. Marijuana Moment: Federal drug officials says adolescent marijuana use has not increased in legalized states. U.S. News & World Report: Georgia DAs warn that cash bail will cause clogged jails.
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