In Wisconsin gerrymandering case, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos refuses to testify

Patrick Marley

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is refusing to testify in Wisconsin's gerrymandering case, opening a new front in a long-running legal battle over how election maps are drawn.

The Rochester Republican and his attorneys refused to accept a subpoena, turn over documents and agree to have him sit for a deposition because they maintain he is immune from civil legal actions. Democrats suing over the maps filed court documents late Tuesday asking a panel of federal judges to force Vos to testify.

"Assembly members, including Speaker Vos, have waived any claim to legislative immunity in this case by intervening as a defendant and actively participating in the litigation, including filing motions and discovery requests," attorney Ruth Greenwood wrote in her filing.

An attorney for Vos rejected that argument.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos hands out copies of Gov. Tony Evers' State of the State address at the Capitol in Madison on Tuesday night.

“Subpoenaing Speaker Vos diverts time, energy, and attention away from legislative tasks and disrupts the important work of the Wisconsin Legislature," attorney Kevin St. John wrote in a letter to Greenwood last month.

The dispute is the latest in a legal fight that started eight years ago when Republicans controlled all of state government and established legislative and congressional district lines that favored their party. There have been two lawsuits over the maps and one trip to the U.S. Supreme Court.

A trial is scheduled for July. Before then, the Supreme Court is expected to issue decisions in gerrymandering cases from Maryland and North Carolina that could have major implications for Wisconsin's case.

Ahead of the trial in the Wisconsin case, the Democrats bringing their lawsuit want to force Vos to give a deposition and turn over documents about drawing the lines. Greenwood noted Vos and legislative aide Adam Foltz were the only two people who met with every GOP legislator in 2011 about the districts.

The state constitution gives lawmakers immunity from civil litigation. But Greenwood argues Vos doesn't qualify for immunity because the Assembly under his leadership last year intervened in the redistricting lawsuit, which she said makes him subject to discovery requests.

She noted federal judges ruled in the earlier lawsuit over the maps that the Legislature didn't qualify for immunity because it hired outside attorneys and consultants to help draw them to Republicans' advantage.

But St. John wrote in letters to the plaintiffs that that finding wasn't binding because it was in a separate case that didn't name Vos. In the latest case, the Assembly is a party but Vos isn't, so he doesn't have to testify, St. John argued.

St. John cited a 1997 decision from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago that found that a public official “should not be taken away from his work to spend hours or days answering lawyers’ questions unless there is a real need.”

In the first lawsuit over Wisconsin's maps, a panel of three federal judges in 2012 found the district lines violated the voting rights of Latinos on Milwaukee's south side and ordered changes to two maps.

In the other case, a different set of judges in 2016 ruled that Wisconsin’s maps violated Democrats’ voting rights because they were so heavily tipped in Republicans’ favor.

The Supreme Court last year found that those who brought that case didn’t have legal standing to sue and sent the case back to the lower court. The fight over Vos' deposition is part of that lawsuit.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the North Carolina and Maryland cases next week. The court is expected to issue rulings by June. Wisconsin's trial is slated to occur the following month, though that could change depending on how the Supreme Court rules in the other cases.

States must draw new congressional and legislative districts every 10 years to account for population changes. Regardless of how the courts ultimately rule, Wisconsin officials will have to draw new maps in 2021, after the next census.

Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.