Madison – Today, the U.S. District Court of Western Wisconsin ruled that the unconstitutional, gerrymandered legislative district lines drawn by Republican leaders in 2011 need to be redrawn by November 1, 2017. The court continued to acknowledge the process taken up by Republican legislators in 2011 represents an “unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.” Assistant Assembly Democratic Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) released the following statement calling for a transparent and public process in the redrawing of the Assembly’s legislative districts:
“Today’s court order is another step forward for restoring true representative democracy in Wisconsin. The court once again acknowledged that Republicans have drawn unconstitutional district lines to gain a partisan advantage in the Wisconsin State Legislature and ordered they be redrawn.
“I am calling on state leaders to work in a bipartisan fashion to redraw the state’s legislative districts in an open, transparent, and public manner. This process should include several public hearings across the state to ensure Wisconsin taxpayers are not subject to additional partisan gerrymandering. For too long, Wisconsin taxpayers have had their voices silenced because of Republicans hiding behind crooked, unconstitutional legislative district lines. The process of redrawing legislative districts must occur in a transparent manner.”
