Judges extend block on Vos testifying in redistricting case

June 4, 2019

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A panel of judges has extended a block on Democrats’ attempts to force Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to testify in a federal lawsuit challenging Republican-drawn legislative maps.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Tuesday that the panel of three federal judges on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a lower court order requiring Vos to take questions under oath. The judges say they will wait to decide if Vos has to testify after the U.S. Supreme Court rules in two major gerrymandering cases from other states.

Rulings in those cases out of North Carolina and Maryland are expected later this month.

The court’s rulings could bolster Democratic arguments in Wisconsin or effectively end their case and any requirement that Vos explain why Republicans drew the maps as they did in 2011.

Wisconsin’s lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in July.