A judicial panel has released the state’s new political maps as part of the once-in-a-decade redistricting process, and a total of 46 legislators – some of who have already announced they are not running again – have been pitted against another incumbent in the newly-reshuffled state lines.

At 1 p.m. on Tuesday a five-judge panel will release the state’s new redistricting maps, a once-in-a-decade reshuffling of the state’s political lines that could pit incumbent legislators against one another, make other districts more competitive and create new districts altogether.

A motion has been filed with the Wisconsin Supreme Court seeking the recusal of Justice Michael Gableman from a pending case that could affect ongoing recall efforts targeting four Republican state senators.

Common Cause had sought to participate in the litigation and file briefs as a friend of the court.

Analysts say the maps make clear that 2012 is the year the state will finally to be forced to deal with population shifts that have been decades in the making.

A day after Common Cause's motion to participate in the suit, Republicans registered their own complaints, objecting to the move.

The new district maps coming in 2012 promise to alter Minnesota’s political landscape for at least the next decade. But one key decision made last week could have an outsized effect — and portend GOP gains — for districts in one very important part of the state: the metro area.

The issues sound as arcane as the redistricting process itself: Should the metro area include seven counties, as it does now, or 11? When is it OK to split counties, cities or townships into separate districts?

Attorneys for one group aligned with Republicans, two groups of DFLers and the Secretary of State's office appeared before the five-judge panel.

The five-judge panel appointed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea to handle redistricting issued a scheduling order on Thursday, instructing all legal parties invovled to have their maps to the court by Nov. 18. The court will have a hearing on the plans on Jan. 4.