GOP: Democrat Circuit Court Plan "Partisan Power Grab"
A portion of seven new judicial subcircuits in DuPage County proposed by legislative Democrats Monday. DuPage County does not currently have subcircuit seats. Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield), the top Republican on the House Redistricting Committee, called the maps a “partisan power grab” designed to pack circuit courts with more Democratic judges.
Democrats say newly released district maps for the election of judges around the state, called subcircuits, will offer “greater opportunities for diversity on the bench.” Republicans, meanwhile, criticized the maps as a way “to gerrymander the courts to uphold the Governor’s agenda.”
House and Senate Democrats late Monday released new subcircuit maps for Cook County, Lake County, and the circuit that includes Winnebago and Boone counties. These counties have already been broken into subcircuits prior to the new map.
In most other judicial circuits, some include a single county (DuPage), while others cover multiple counties (11 in the 2nd Circuit), judges are elected either circuit wide or by county.
But Democrats also released new subcircuit maps for DuPage County, Kane County, the 3rd Circuit, consisting Madison and Bond Counties, and the 7th Circuit, which includes Sangamon, Morgan, Scott, Greene, Jersey, and Macoupin Counties.
The 7th Circuit was split into three subcircuits, including one that generally includes the city of Springfield, another that includes the rest of Sangamon County, and a third that covers the other five counties in the circuit.
Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield), the top Republican on the House Redistricting Committee, called the new plans a “partisan power grab” by Democrats to elect more Democratic judges.
“First, Democrats not only gerrymander the legislative and congressional maps to elect more Democrats, but now they want to gerrymander the courts to uphold the Governor’s agenda,” Butler said. “It’s tremendously politicizing the judicial process and an overt power grab to satisfy the Governor’s progressive dreams.”
Democrats defended the maps in their announcement.
“The creation of new subcircuits in DuPage, Sangamon and Madison counties will give minority communities a better opportunity to elect candidates of their choice and influence elections,” the statement read. “These new subcircuits will help improve the diversity of opinion and background of judges, while giving everyone a voice in electing a bench of judges they feel best represent their communities.”
The release notes current judges won’t be impacted, meaning judges will be added to each of the circuits. The state pays each circuit judge $212,681 per year.
Democrats also say they’ll introduce new subcircuit maps for Will and McHenry Counties.
The push by Democrats to draw new subcircuit maps has spawned by an effort by Rep. Carol Ammons (D-Urbana), to elect more Democratic judges in Champaign County. Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Swansea) has also worked to include subcircuits in St. Clair County, but those have not come to fruition yet.
No hearing date has been set on the maps, and it is unlikely the legislature votes on them during its one day session Wednesday.
