Many of former Gov. Walker’s legislative victories depended on gerrymandering, and Speaker Robin Vos would not be the speaker today without a wildly gerrymandered state. Say what one wants about those men, they’re staying true to their shared dance partner: Walker has joined a GOP group that favors gerrymandered redistricting, and Vos refuses to answer lawful a lawful subpoena about the very practice that has him taken him from backbencher to leadership of the Wisconsin Assembly.
Different men might have recoiled from a continuing defense of gerrymandering, but Walker and Vos have nowhere to turn save toward an even deeper commitment to that disreputable practice.
Far from remorse over it, they’ve both made clear they’ll defend it to the end.
It will be interesting to see what happens to Gerrymandering at the SCotUS. I have a faint hope that Roberts will flip. He actually appears to be making decisions based on the law, rather than Federalist Society doctrine, lately. Vos, Walker and Fitz have had a dream of endless hegemony. The SCotUS cases and Evers wielding a veto have put that in peril. The trifecta would be Kelly getting booted from the WI SC next year, assuming Neubauer wins this go-around.
I wonder who will defend Vos refusing the subpoena, because he is a leggie and they were in session? I’m assuming that the invalidation of the lame-duck laws also makes Kaul the guy to defend Vos from this intrusion into his official duties “doing the work of the people of the state”. If I understand how this works correctly, the AG is the official lawyer for any state-related issues, once again.
Vos’ argument is pretty weak and he will likely have to fork over the goodies at some point. I expect that the next Harbor Freight tent sale will be overrun with white-belted, wing-tipped, Republican lawyers looking for a bulk-buy discount on sledge hammers suitable for smashing hard drives. I imagine that they yard-saled the ones that they used last time…
Even a 5-4 decision against gerrymandering would be a huge win in this political environment. Where one might have hoped for near unanimity on a big issue in another era, any good decision from this court (even a narrowly-decided one) should be considered a great victory.
Here’s hoping.
Funny about Walker. He’s an astonishing liar. Consider this tweet:
“It is my honor to help lead @TheNRRT as we counter the efforts of the far Left to try and gerrymander their way into permanent control of the Congress and state legislative bodies across the country. Republicans win if we have fair maps!”
Walker takes Eric Holder’s effort to promote non-partisan redistricting and turns it into “the efforts of the far Left.” It’s not that Walker’s dishonesty is new, it’s that it’s incessant.