LWVWI: Judicial Integrity and Redistricting Committee

Jane Benson, committee member and LWVGGB member

February 2026

The Judicial Integrity and Redistricting Committee has now been subdivided into two very active subcommittees. First, let’s take a look at the important work of the Judicial Integrity subcommittee:

Impact of the Federal Supreme Court Shadow Docket YouTube Series

The Judicial Integrity Subcommittee devoted a lot of time in recent months to the preparation of a series of brief YouTube videos meant to make accessible important information about the little known Shadow Docket used by the federal Supreme Court. One video will focus on the Shadow Docket process. All the others will focus on the effects of Shadow Docket decisions on Wisconsin. The whole series is posted on LWVWI YouTube channel. I’ll summarize them here:

·      Intro to the Federal Supreme Court Shadow Docket: Nationally recognized legal scholar Steve Vladeck (Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center)

·      Impact of the Shadow Docket Specifically in Wisconsin: Attorney Jim Santelle (Criminal prosecutor and civil litigator with the United States Department of Justice, including over six years as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin)

·      The Impact of USAID Funding Cuts to Wisconsin Farmers and the Farm Economy: Josh Baethge (Policy editor - Farm Progress) 

·      The Impact on Wisconsin of the Shadow Docket Order Cutting Funding to the US Department of Education Wisconsin: Julie Underwood  (Retired Dean of the School of Education at UW - Madison)

·      The Shadow Docket and Funding Cuts to the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation Projects in Wisconsin: Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska (Vice Chancellor for Research at UW–Madison)

·      LOOKING AHEAD: A Wisconsin Supreme Court Webinar is planned for Tuesday, March 10 (6:30-7:45).

The Redistricting subcommittee has also been very active and offers a lot of valuable information to our local League members. After presenting roughly 30 times around the state of Wisconsin, we took into consideration feedback from attendees and completed a draft proposal for legislation for a Wisconsin Model for an Independent Redistricting Commission to draw voting maps in the future. A drafter in the Legislative Reference Bureau is interacting with us to clarify language and prepare the text to become a bill. We hope to meet soon with Senator Smith, Representative Andraca, and others to discuss in more detail the submitted draft proposal.

We plan to have a formal bill introduced when the NEW legislature is sworn into office in January 2027 in order to give new legislators the opportunity to support it. Beforehand, we're asking for your help to make sure ALL candidates are aware of the Wisconsin Model for an Independent Redistricting Commission. Please direct them here, to our proposal.

Efforts are proceeding to ensure a question about the IRC is included in the VOTE411 candidate questionnaire, to update the IRC brochure content, and more.

What YOU can do:

·      If you don't see your legislative candidates’ answers on VOTE411, please encourage them to submit answers.

·      At any candidate forums online or in person, try to work in a question about whether candidates know what an IRC is and if they support it.

·      An updated IRC brochure is being prepared. Plan to distribute the brochures at your future events.