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MADISON -A Dane County judge voided a contract Thursday between Republican legislators and their redistricting lawyers.

Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke ruled Republican leaders didn't have the power to hire two law firms this year to help them with expected litigation over congressional and legislative maps they must draw before next year's elections.

States must draw new maps every 10 years based on population changes detected by the U.S. Census Bureau. Those maps can give one political party an advantage over the other.

Republicans who control the Wisconsin Legislature expect Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to veto whatever maps they draw. That will leave it to courts to decide what the maps should look like.

In anticipation of that, they hired lawyers in recent months and planned to pay them $1 million or more this year.

But Ehlke found the leaders didn't have the power to hire the attorneys and canceled their contracts with them.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu of Oostburg did not immediately react to the decision but could appeal the ruling.

The lawsuit challenging the hiring of the attorneys was brought last month by four Madison teachers.

In 2019, Republican lawmakers passed wide-ranginglame-duck laws to limit the powers of Evers and Democratic Attorney Josh Kaul.

Those laws made it easier for the Legislature to hire attorneys, but Ehlke found that ability applies only when litigation has already been filed and not when lawmakers simply expect they will be sued, as is the case with redistricting.

"Under the plain terms of the statute the defendants did not have authority to enter into the two contracts at issue in this case," Ehlke wrote.

Under one contract,Vos and LeMahieu agreed to have the state pay as much as $965,000 for the services of attorney Adam Mortara and Consovoy McCarthy, the boutique law firm that has represented former President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee.

As part of that arrangement, the state began paying $30,000 a month starting in January to cover pre-litigation consulting. The monthly fee was to jump to $200,000 in July or when a redistricting lawsuit is filed, whichever comes first.

Under a second contract, Vos and LeMahieu agreed to pay $375 an hour to former Deputy Attorney General Kevin St. John at the Madison firmBellGiftosSt. John.

Evers has not hired attorneys for redistricting. Last year heestablisheda commission to draw nonpartisan maps.

Republicans have said they don't trust that those maps will be nonpartisan and plan to draw their own maps.

ContactPatrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Followhim on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.

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Dane County judge voids redistricting contract with Republicans and their lawyers - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel