Wisconsin voting boundaries could affect entire nation in partisan politics.

Federal court ordered lawmakers redraw lines by 
Nov. 1, but Republicans await Supreme Court hearing.

As a Supreme Court hearing nears, national attention is focusing closely on a potential landmark case involving Wisconsin legislative boundaries.  

The case, involving Republican-drawn legislative boundaries, will become more and more of a national story because of what it could mean for political races all over the nation.

“What’s happened in Wisconsin, the Republicans chose the most partisan lines favorable to them they could possibly come up with,” said Jay Heck with Wisconsin Common Cause. “By that standard there may be, now, a place for the U.S. Supreme Court to say, ‘Yeah, you can be partisan but you can’t be that partisan.'”

A ruling could have ripple effects all over the nation in states that allow majority lawmakers to draw up legislative districts favorable to them.  

“What that really means, is if you’re voting in Wisconsin and you’re a Democrat, your vote’s worth less than a Republican vote,” Heck said.

A federal court has ordered Wisconsin lawmakers to redraw a 2010 legislative district map by Nov. 1. 

Republicans, however, have apparently put that effort on ice, pending the Supreme Court’s decision in the case, which will likely happen in the fall.

“Once the United States Supreme Court decides whether they’re going to rule on it and then does rule on it, it’ll have a pretty big effect,” Heck said.