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MADISON -Republican lawmakers are promising to try to swiftly take a dispute over their redistricting attorneys to the state Supreme Court if they don't get a favorable ruling from appeals judgesthis week.

The move may be risky because the high court on Friday reminded conservatives that it wants those bringing casesto follow regular procedures instead of engineering ways to get them to the justices as fast as possible.

Republicans who control the Legislature hired attorneys in December and January because they expect to be involved in litigation over redistricting, the high-stakes political process that takes place every 10 years of drawing new legislative and congressional districts.

A group of Madison teachers sued over the hiring of the attorneys and a Dane County judge in Aprilvoided the legal contracts, finding the legislators had no authority to hire the attorneys at this stage.

Appeals Judge Lisa Stark last week declined to put that ruling on hold.

In a motion Friday, an attorney for the Republicans asked a three-judge panel to set Stark's ruling aside and take up the issue itself. If it doesn't rule by Thursday, the Republicans will ask the Supreme Court to get involved, attorney Misha Tseytlin wrote.

"Absent stay relief from this Court, the Legislature intends to seek expedited relief from the Supreme Court on July 1, as it has previously indicated," Tseytlin wrote.

Whether the Supreme Court would be willing to take the case at this point is unclear. In a different case, a 4-3 majority on Friday emphasized that lawsuits should follow ordinary procedures instead of getting placed on fast tracks to the high court.

In that case, the majority said it was important to follow "well-establishedjudicial ground rules."

"To be sure, this court has an obligation to say what the law is, but this is not a standalone duty," the justices wrote. "Our responsibility to declare the law arises in the context of our duty to decide cases genuine and ripe disputes between parties with standing to raise them. It is not our institutional role to step in and answer every unsettled and interesting legal question with statewide impact."

The majority expressed that sentiment in explaining why it wasn't taking a challenge to Wisconsin's election rules that was brought straight to the high court instead of a lower court. The majority consisted of Justice Brian Hagedorn, who was elected in 2019 with the help of Republicans, and the court's three liberals, Justices Ann Walsh Bradley, Rebecca Dallet and Jill Karofsky.

The fight over the redistricting attorneys is being closely watched because it will likely affect how litigation over election maps plays out.

States must draw new districts every 10 years to account for population changes. Where the lines are placed can give one political party an advantage over the other.

Both sides expect the matter to wind up in court because Republican lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers are unlikely to agree on the maps.

The legislators signed two contracts. One iswithattorney Adam Mortara and the Washington, D.C. law firmConsovoy McCarthy. The otheris withthe Madison law firmBellGiftosSt. John.

As of May, Republicans had spent about $103,000 in taxpayer funds on the attorneys. It's unclear if taxpayers could be reimbursed for any of that money.

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

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Republicans say they will try to take case over redistricting attorneys to the Wisconsin Supreme Court - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel