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MADISON (WKOW) -- On Tuesday, Speaker Robin Vos held a press conference announcing that Wisconsin's Republican-led Assembly was moving forward with a vote on a bill mimicking Iowa's nonpartisan redistricting model.

The announcement came sometime after Wisconsin Republicans floated threats to impeach Justice Janet Protasiewicz if she chose not to recuse herself from a lawsuit challenging the state's electoral maps, claiming Protasiewicz had a vested interest in the case after calling the maps "rigged."

Vos said the plan would serve as an alternative to impeachment and that Democrats should support the bill as it meets their demands for a more fair redistricting process.

Democrats immediately spoke against the bill, Governor Tony Evers among them, arguing that the state's Republican legislature could not be trusted to oversee the process and its decision to introduce the bill now raises flags.

The bill lacks a provision of the Iowa model that would allow the Supreme Court to draw the maps if the legislature can't agreea move motivated by the court's now-liberal majority.

"Of course, the red herring that they are throwing out is that this takes the Supreme Court out of the mix. That's actually not true, because we know under any circumstance, unfortunately, Wisconsin has been fairly commonplace that if the legislature and the governor can't agree to a map, it goes to the court", said Vos.

Vos clarified he never said he wanted to impeach Protasiewicz, stating the new bill was an opportunity to avoid wasting taxpayer dollars by bringing the lawsuit to trial.

However, on Wednesday, Vos contradicted himself, confirming he had developed a counsel of former Supreme Court justices to advise him on the possibility of impeaching Protasiewicz.

27 News spoke with Republican Representative Todd Novak about that decision, who said the Democrats' response contradicted their demands but said there would be time to get some members on board.

"Why bring the Supreme Court in. I think everybody's getting confused as the Iowa Constitution says the Supreme Court, our Constitution says the legislature does not involve the Supreme Court, and that was a recommendation from Legislative Reference Bureau to make it match our Constitution," said Novak.

Once the Assembly votes on the bill, it will go to the Senate for a hearing.

Read more from the original source:
Wisconsin Assembly to vote on Republican Iowa-style redistricting bill - WKOW