My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Here’s a part:
The leftist-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court is continuing its rampage to strip Wisconsinites of self-governance and reshape the state to their will. Where leftists could not win support for their ideology at the ballot box, they will use the power of the court to advance it.
Unless you are a political nerd, it is difficult to convey how bad the court is acting in regard to Wisconsin’s legislative maps. Article 4 section 3 of the Wisconsin Constitution is crystal clear that it is the duty and responsibility of the state legislature to redraw the state’s legislative boundaries every 10 years after the federal census.
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The Supreme Court does not have to use any of the submitted maps. They could just ignore them all and draw their own. One thing is certain, however: The new maps will maximize the advantage for Democrats even if districts are gerrymandered such that they will be renowned as a piece of abstract art. One need only look to our neighbors in Illinois to see the depths to which Democrats will gerrymander districts to their advantage.
But the deeper outrage of the leftist court’s actions is not the “what,” but the “who.” Our government of self-governance relies on the rule of law and the separation of powers. The leftists are rejecting both of these bedrock principles in one stroke. They are substituting ideology for law and brazenly snatching an express constitutional power from the legislative branch of government.
We are watching a judicial coup unfold before our eyes. These are menacing times.
Well, if it’s a coup it’s the most slow rolling coup in our nation’s history. Leftist courts have been acting as super-legislatures for decades. They have no qualms about circumventing a wrong-thinking legislature that represents a wrong-thinking constituency. It’s how lefties conduct their political business. It’s SOP to them. They figured out how to circumvent the electorate at least a half-century ago. I don’t intend to be at all mean, but if this is a sudden realization it’s a lot like waking up after your house has burned to the ground around you.
Elected representatives, in general, have been amenable to this usurpation because it allows them to shirk their own legislative responsibilities and avoid controversial votes. Too many elected representatives don’t view the current process as broken. While they prefer not being bound by constitutional process, what they really dislike is an electorate that demands accountable representation. The RNC-type Republicans are unquestionably just as complicit as Democrats in that regard. The Schoolhouse Rock version of our constitutional federal republic exists only on paper these days.
SCOWI may have the constitutional authority to declare the maps invalid but they have no constitutional authority to draw maps of their own. All they can do is send the maps back to the legislature for a redo. Courts do not have the authority to make law or otherwise usurp the powers of the legislature.
2. The court has sent the maps back for a redo through the legislative process and EVERS has stated he will only accept his maps, denying the legislature any input. How does he get away with defying the courts instruction to work through the process?
Elected representatives, in general, have been amenable to this usurpation because it allows them to shirk their own legislative responsibilities and avoid controversial votes. Too many elected representatives don’t view the current process as broken.
THIS^^^^^