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Madison - A three-judge panel on Thursday told Republican lawmakers to turn over 84 documents to a group of Democrats in a blistering order that said Republicans had engaged in an "all but shameful" effort to keep its efforts hidden from the public.

The court promptly released the documents that showed, among other things, that Republicans who drew new election maps last year largely orchestrated the public testimony given in support of them.

The three federal judges - two of them appointed by Republicans - were unanimous in their decision. It came after a string of orders against the Republicans and just five days be fore the judges will preside over a trial in Milwaukee to determine whether the maps adhere to the U.S. Constitution.

In recent weeks, as the trial has neared, controversial documents have been released, including legal agreements nearly every Republican in the Legislature signed promising to keep the maps secret and talking points prepared for Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester) telling Republicans to ignore public comments about the maps.

Every 10 years, states must draw new maps to account for population shifts recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau. Wisconsin Republicans were able to establish maps last year that greatly favored their party because they control state government.

The Republicans hired Michael Best & Friedrich and the Troupis Law Office to help create the maps, and legislative aides drew them at Michael Best's offices across the street from the Capitol. Republicans have committed $400,000 in taxpayer money for the legal help.

A group of Democrats sued over the maps even before they were unveiled. Their case argues the maps violate the federal Voting Rights Act and U.S. Constitution because of how they treat minorities and because they move so many people from one district to another.

Republicans attempted to keep a host of documents secret and tried to prevent their staff and a consultant from having to give depositions. The court earlier rejected those arguments and last month ordered the Republicans to pay nearly $17,500 to the Democrats' attorneys for filing frivolous motions to keep information secret.

After that, the Republicans turned over a raft of records but tried to keep secret 84 documents, most of them emails between lawyers and legislative staff. The Republicans argued they were subject to attorney-client privilege.

Lines blurred

In its order Thursday, the court said legal advice could remain confidential, but not political or strategic advice. The Republicans had blended political and legal advice in the documents so extensively that the lines between them "practically disappeared" and all of them had to be released, the court said.

"Merely hiding political decisions behind the closed doors (and email servers) of a law firm does not make the advice offered any less political, strategic, or policy related," the order said.

"Without a doubt, the Legislature made a conscious choice to involve private lawyers in what gives every appearance of an attempt - albeit poorly disguised - to cloak the private machinations of Wisconsin's Republican legislators in the shroud of attorney-client privilege. What could have - indeed should have - been accomplished publicly instead took place in private, in an all but shameful attempt to hide the redistricting process from public scrutiny."

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said he disagreed with the court that lawmakers had been overly secretive. He said legislators usually keep all legislation confidential until they formally introduce it.

The records provide an inside view on the process Republicans used to draw the maps and show the testimony in favor of the maps was arranged by those who drew them. They recruited people to testify and supplied them with talking points.

The records include a short statement from an unnamed GOP lawmaker opposed to the secretive process leaders used to draw the maps.

That document is written as a brief floor speech and says, "I do not believe that any one political party, be it my party or the Democratic Party, should draw legislative districts. Rather, I believe that an independent commission should undertake this responsibility. . . . It is that process, and only that process, that will allay fears that one party or another was unfairly influencing the process of legislative redistricting."

Ray Taffora, an attorney who advised lawmakers on the maps, forwarded the document to other members of the redistricting team but did not say in his email who authored it.

The team considered forcing some senators who were not up for re-election until 2014 to go through special elections in 2012, the emails show. They did not pursue that plan after determining it might violate the state and federal constitutions.

In many of the emails, the redistricting team discussed how to draw maps of Latino areas in Milwaukee - districts that are at the heart of the lawsuit. At one stage, attorney Jim Troupis sent an email trumpeting support from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Troupis stressed the importance of getting someone from the group to testify "as this will take the largest legal fund for the Latino community off the table in any later court battle."

The group ultimately did not testify. Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa (D-Milwaukee), the only Hispanic in the Legislature, said Thursday the group pulled back after she talked to it about why she opposed the maps.

The court's order releasing the documents came just days after the Republicans submitted them to the court for review under seal.

The panel of judges consists of J.P. Stadtmueller of the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Diane P. Wood of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and Robert M. Dow Jr. of the Northern District of Illinois.