UPDATED: Democrats Reveal Supreme Court Redistricting Proposal
The Illinois Supreme Court Chamber in Springfield.
Democrats released a redistricting plan Tuesday to redraw Illinois Supreme Court districts for the first time in more than 50 years.
The current 2nd district includes suburban DuPage, Lake, Kane, McHenry, and Kendall counties, which have exploded in growth in recent years. The new districts would create a new district for Lake, Kane, McHenry, Kendall, and DeKalb counties, while moving DuPage County into the new 3rd district, which would stretch from the Indiana line to west of LaSalle and include suburban Will County.
The southern Illinois-based 5th district would move north to include Champaign, Danville, and Decatur. It would also pair together two Republican justices, Rita Garman of Danville and David Overstreet of Mt. Vernon. Overstreet was elected to a 10-year term in 2020 and Garman would potentially be up for retention next year.
“This map is about equal representation in the state’s most important court,” said Rep. Lisa Hernandez, Chair of the House Redistricting Committee. “As we strive for all to be equal before the law, we must ensure we all have an equal voice in choosing those who uphold it.”
Democrats say the number of residents in the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Supreme Court districts will be substantially equalized to better reflect the population and demographic shifts that have occurred in the state of Illinois over the course of the last sixty years. Currently, population fluctuates greatly between districts. For instance, the Second District contains 3.2 million people, while the Fourth and Fifth Districts contain under 1.3 million people.
“The boundaries for Illinois Supreme Court districts have not been updated for several decades, it’s time we make changes in recognition of the population changes and demographic shifts that have taken place since the 1960s,” said Sen. Omar Aquino, Chair of the Senate Redistricting Committee. “Illinois is a very different state than it was sixty years ago, and the voters of Illinois deserve to elect members to our state’s highest court that reflect their values.”
Republicans deferred comment Tuesday saying they hadn’t seen the map in detail, though they did criticize Democrats for continuing to withhold what data was released to draw maps.
UPDATE (3:56 P.M.):
John Pastuovic, President of the right-leaning Illinois Civil Justice League issued a statement in reaction to the map proposal:
“It is clear to me that the Democrats have initiated this first in 50-year judicial remap in reaction to their third district retention loss in 2020 and concern that they could lose that seat to the Republicans in 2022. For example, when looking a party identification voting data, the current third district gives Republicans about a 55 to 45 percent advantage while the new map gives the Republicans a slight 51 to 49 percent advantage. Additionally, the new second district is a 50-50 toss-up using the same voting data. Since the Democrats only have to win one of those seats to maintain their majority on the court, Las Vegas would probably like their odds. Calling for a new Supreme Court maps because of a population disparity is a convenient narrative. It is also disingenuous.”
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None of the more than two dozen House and Senate hearings on redistricting included the Supreme Court.