Will Dems Redraw Supreme Court Districts?
The current district map for the Illinois Supreme Court. Democrats may redraw district lines for the first time since the current constitution was adopted in 1970.
NOTE: This story was originally posted for subscribers only. To receive subscriber-only newsletters and content, click here.
Since the state adopted its current constitution in 1970, the boundaries for the seven Supreme Court seats have remained consistent: three representing Cook County and another four spread out across the state.
Following the retention defeat of Democrat justice Tom Kilbride last year, many sources say Democrats may be rolling out new district lines for the courts along with remap plans for the legislature and Illinois’ congressional districts.
The Illinois Civil Justice League, a group described by some as “right-leaning,” issued a new study Tuesday on what new court maps could look like and what it could mean for Illinois’ courts system.
John Pastuovic, President of the Illinois Civil Justice League, says it appears the legislature is entering uncharted waters.
“I’m not sure anybody knows a whole lot of what potentially might be going on with the Supreme Court remap, mostly because its never been done before,” Pastuovic says. “The Supreme Court map that we have now is the map that was ratified in the 1970 constitution, and that’s the way it’s been for 50 years.”
A potential map written by ICJL would split up the suburbs into two new districts. Another district would stretch from the northwestern tip of the state south and east to Marshall along the Indiana line.
The most southern district would move north in the western part of the state to nearly the Quad Cities, stretching from Henderson County along the Iowa border to Massac County in the southern tip of the state.
However it may go down, though, Pastuovic says it comes down to politics.
“If they do this, it’s because in 2020, Justice Thomas Kilbride had a retention race that he lost and there will now be an election in 2022, if the map doesn’t change, and that district is now more Republican than it has been in a long time,” he says. “Really, it gives the Republicans an opportunity to gain a majority on the Supreme Court for the first time since the 1970 constitution.”
The additional complication of splitting up a suburban district would be the need for a new appellate courthouse one of the counties. Currently, the courthouse for the 2nd Appellate District is located in Elgin. Under the ICJL hypothetical, DuPage, Kendall, Will, and DeKalb counties would need a new appellate courthouse. The new 5th district would have two existing appeals courthouses, in Springfield and Mt. Vernon.
“There’s gonna be an enormous cost associated with that,” said Pastuovic. “Unlike Congressional remaps or legislative remaps, you’re not talking about a lot of people that are displaced. Sometimes a congressman may have to move into a new district or decide not to run, we potentially have a large number of judges impacted and you could have new appellate district courthouses that have to be built, there are a lot of potential costs associated with all that.”
Republicans say Democrats haven’t brought up redrawing court districts at all in the public process of the remap so far.
“If the Democrats redistrict the Supreme Court, it shows once again that their claims of transparency are hollow,” said Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield), the ranking Republican on the House Redistricting Committee. “I’ve asked multiple times about whether or not those districts will be redone, yet have received not a single answer. The Supreme Court districts were not a focus of a single hearing, and the public has not had any opportunity to discuss changing that map.”
Neither a spokesperson for House Speaker Chris Welch or a spokesman for Senate President Don Harmon responded to our questions about the potential Supreme Court remap yesterday.