Federal Court Throws out June Legislative Map, September Rewrite Up in the Air
An event inside a federal courtroom in Chicago.
A federal court in Chicago has thrown out the legislative map passed by Democrats in May, but didn’t go so far as to throw out the September rewrite of the maps.
The three judge panel, made up of two Republican appointees (Trump, W. Bush) and one Democratic appointee (Obama), issued the ruling Tuesday, invalidating the map passed by the legislature in May and signed by Governor JB Pritzker in early June.
From the summary judgement:
The Court declares that the June Redistricting Plan, Public Act 102-0010, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and enjoins the Defendant State Board of Elections and Defendant Members, Charles W. Scholz, Ian K. Linabarry, William M. McGuffage, William J. Cadigan, Katherine S. O’Brien, Laura K. Donahue, Casandra B. Watson, and William R. Haine, in their official capacities as members of the Illinois State Board of Elections, from enforcing Public Act 102-0010.
The June map was replaced by the map passed August 31, but the June map was never actually repealed, so the court chose to invalidate the plan. Otherwise, if the September map is overturned, it would have automatically deferred to the June map.
The June Redistricting Plan presents a live controversy because no court has ruled that that map is unconstitutional, and upon inquiry from this Court, no assurances have been provided that the SBE would not enforce the June Redistricting Plan if the September Plan were invalidated. To be sure, the September Redistricting Plan was enacted into law on September 24, 2021. But, importantly, the General Assembly did not repeal the June Plan. Instead, Public Act 102-0663 dictates that the September Plan “shall be construed to take precedence over any conflict of law in accordance with the Statute on Statutes,” which in turn provides that when two or more statutes present an “irreconcilable conflict,” the “Act last acted upon by the General Assembly is controlling to the extent of such conflict.” 5 ILCS § 70/6. The Court has been given no assurances that if the September Redistricting Plan is invalidated, Defendants would not simply revert to the June Redistricting Plan.
Democrats continually argued during the spring they were “constitutionally required” to pass a legislative map by June 30, but the court disagreed.
Neither the text nor the structure of the Illinois Constitution mandates that the redistricting process be completed by June 30. Article IV, § 3(b) of the Illinois Constitution states that “in the year following each Federal decennial census year, the General Assembly by law shall redistrict.” The only reference to June 30 is by way of a contingency plan: Section 3(b) continues, “[i]f no redistricting plan becomes effective by June 30 of that year, a Legislative Redistricting Commission shall be constituted not later than July 10.” Id. In other words, there is no June 30 mandate; in fact, the Constitution contemplates that in some circumstances, the General Assembly will not enact a plan by June 30, and in such cases provides the Commission as a back-up. See id. Four of the last five Illinois redistricting maps—all but the 2010 map—were drawn by a Commission, not by the General Assembly.
Now the court will begin review of the September remap to see if it holds up to muster. The court will allow Democratic attorneys to explain how the new map corrected the constitutional questions of the June map. The court will also accept suggestions to the map from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), which had its suit over the map combined with the Republican suit.
A new suit filed by the NAACP over alleged “cracking “ of Black voters in East St. Louis may eventually be folded into the suit.
In a joint statement, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) and Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) called the ruling a “victory” for citizens, advocacy groups, and minority communities.
“During this process the Republican caucuses consistently demanded transparency and fairness in mapmaking, which were rejected by the Democrats and Governor Pritzker,” the statement read. “The court’s ruling validates all the concerns that were raised during the Democrats’ unconstitutional attempt to gerrymander Illinois.”
Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington), the top Republican on the Senate Redistricting Committee, blamed Governor JB Pritzker for “betraying” voters by going back on a promise to veto politically drawn maps.
“It is encouraging that the court came to the same conclusion that so many Illinoisans and good government groups did, that this map, based on seriously inaccurate data and partisan intentions, was unconstitutional,” Barickman said.
Neither the attorney representing Democrats or spokespeople for Senate President Don Harmon and House Speaker Chris Welch have responded to our request for comment.
