Public – Page 45 – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

Republicans Could Get Last Word on Redistricting—as Democrats Did in 1983

Post author:Larry Sandler
Post published:February 10, 2022
Post category:Election Law Lubar Center Public

You may have heard that the Wisconsin Supreme Court will be deciding legislative district lines that will stand for the next decade.

It might happen that way. But if Republicans win back the governor’s office and retain control of both houses of the Legislature this fall, they could redraw the map next year to favor their party even more than any of the GOP-leaning options the high court might choose.

That’s what Democrats did when they were in the same position 40 years earlier, although the 1983 Democratic effort differs significantly from the Republican-engineered 2011 redistricting plan that Democrats have denounced as an extreme partisan gerrymander.

A Supreme Court opinion in the current case will leave the door open for Republicans to redraw the map if they are in charge of both the legislative and executive branches.

Neighborhoods where Milwaukee isn’t segregated

Post author:John Johnson
Post published:February 9, 2022
Post category:Lubar Center Milwaukee Area Project Public

The following statistics were calculated by aggregating 2020 census blocks into Milwaukee neighborhoods. Because of data quality concerns stemming from the Census Bureau’s new differential privacy techniques, I do not present data for neighborhoods with fewer than 400 residents.

The 2020 Census reconfirmed Milwaukee’s status as one of the most segregated cities and metropolitan areas in the United States.

According to Brown University’s Diversity and Disparities Project, metro-wide Black-white segregation declined slightly, but the Milwaukee metro still ranks 2nd-most segregated, just as in 2010. Within city limits, the absolute degree of Black-white segregation measured by Brown University remained unchanged, and segregation between other groups declined only modestly.

These dismal statistics point to how far Milwaukee remains from being a fair place to live for most of its residents. Still, there are neighborhoods in Milwaukee that saw significant positive change over the last decade. Their populations grew more representative of the city as a whole.

One way to measure this is a “diversity index,” which shows the likelihood that two people randomly chosen from the same neighborhood would identify with different races.

Marquette Law School poll looks at Justice Breyer and nominations to the Supreme Court

Post author:Charles Franklin
Post published:January 27, 2022
Post category:Public

It has been a busy week for the Marquette Law School Poll. On Wednesday the latest national Supreme Court Survey was released (before dawn), news came a few hours later of Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement, on Thursday the national issues segment of the poll was released (before dawn) and finally a lengthy review of public opinion of Breyer and of the nomination process for the Court was released (after dawn) with a look over Law School polling about the Court since 2019.

Here are links to these releases for all the details.