Last month, the Wisconsin Supreme Court threw out state legislative maps drawn by Republican legislators in 2021, forcing new maps to be created and used for the 2024 election. Democrats praised the decision, while Republicans called it a political move by the courts.

Both Democrats and Republicans are misguided in how they interpreted the ruling. Indeed, battles won with court rulings like this are simultaneously contributing to the war to protect democracy being lost.

The court claimed that the current map was unconstitutional, since the districts were not contiguous (meaning that the areas within each district are not connected). By the letter of definition, this is correct. Yet it represents a convenient red herring for a newfound Democrat majority on the Supreme Court to impose their will and demand that a new map be drawn.

The situation for mapping districts in Wisconsin is challenging. Wisconsin is a near 50-50 state between Democrat and Republican voters. Yet the state House and Senate maps, as well as the congressional map, all give Republicans majorities in these chambers. For example, the State Senate currently has a 22-11 Republican supermajority, while the GOP’s 64-35 majority in the State........

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