Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen asked the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday to reverse the decision made March that redrawn voting district maps violated the federal Voting Rights Act.
Every 10 years, voting districts are redrawn in order to reflect changes in population shifts. Last year, the Republican-controlled state legislature redrew the 132 legislature voting districts, but were sued by Democrats and the immigrant rights group Voces De La Frontera over two south-side Milwaukee districts.
The plaintiffs accused GOP officials of redrawing the two districts in a way that deliberately split up the area’s Latino community, weakening the Latino vote.
A panel of three federal judges agreed, ruling in March that the GOP acted in violation of the Voting Rights Act that prohibits discriminatory voting practices.
Van Hollen’s decision to bring the decision before the Supreme Court gives the Democrats an opportunity to cross-appeal the some of the district complaints they lost.
Federal redistricting appeals are required to go before the Supreme Court.
