Reply #1: I really liked this paragraph from the Journal Sentinel account

[dragonlady]

The group is represented by Michael Best & Friedrich - the same firm that helped Republican lawmakers draw the maps and write the law that said they were not to go into effect until November 2012. In all, taxpayers paid $400,000 to Michael Best and the Troupis Law Office for their work on the maps.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/republicans-...

As to the issue of which courts, state or federal, should decide on whether old or new districts are used in recalls:

Meanwhile, a group of Democrats has asked a panel of three federal judges to ensure that any recall elections are conducted using the old maps. They made that request late Friday as part of a lawsuit they began this summer that argues the new maps are unconstitutional.
...
One of the chief arguments made in the new case is that challenges to legislative maps should generally be heard by state courts, rather than federal courts.

Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen used that argument in the federal case filed by the group of Democrats, but the judges ruled last month the federal court could continue to hear the case and kept that suit alive.