Abstract
Wisconsin’s 2020 redistricting cycle was long, bitterly contested, and subject to dramatic reversals of fortune. Yet perhaps the most unusual feature of the whole process was how it ended in 2024: with a legislative redistricting plan passed by Republican legislators and signed by a Democratic Governor. Redistricting of the Wisconsin Legislature by divided political branches had occurred only three times prior in state history—in 1852, 1856, and 1971.
Redistricting may once have seemed a matter primarily of interest to political insiders. But the boundaries of legislative districts have great impact on politics and power, as the events of the last fifteen years in Wisconsin have shown.
This Article describes the twists and turns of Wisconsin’s redistricting history, particularly following the 2020 Census. The disputes throughout illustrate longstanding, unresolved debates about the process and principles by which new maps are drawn.
Repository Citation
John D. Johnson,
The Boundaries of Law and Politics: Disputes Over Wisconsin's Maps for Political Districts Have a Long History, but the Last Few Years Have Brought Especially Intense Court Battles,
109 Marq. L. Rev. 1189
(2026).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/mulr/vol109/iss3/10