* Media advisory…
What:
The U.S. Census Bureau will hold a news conference to discuss the release of the first local level results from the 2020 Census. States use these data on race, Hispanic origin, and the voting-age population to redraw the boundaries of their congressional and state legislative districts.
The news conference will provide initial analysis of the first local level results from the 2020 Census on population change, race, ethnicity, the age 18 and over population, and housing occupancy status.
A live Q&A session with Census Bureau subject-matter experts will immediately follow the briefing for credentialed media who have RSVPed.
When:
Thursday, August 12, at 1 p.m. EDT
Who:
Ron Jarmin, acting director, U.S. Census Bureau
James Whitehorne, chief, Redistricting & Voting Rights Data Office, U.S. Census Bureau
Nicholas Jones, director and senior advisor of Race and Ethnic Research and Outreach, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau
Marc Perry, senior demographer, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau
Michael C. Cook, Sr., chief, Public Information Office, U.S. Census Bureau (moderator)
The legislature held off drawing the congressional maps until this data was available. It’s also possible that some state legislative districts will be redrawn if the data highlights important errors.
…Adding… Jim Nowlan on the new legislative maps. He really doesn’t like them…
We wouldn’t be facing such atrocious maps had not the state high court in 2016 blocked a petition signed by 700,000 voters. The ballot proposal would have allowed voters to determine if they wanted an independent commission to draw maps, without partisan gerrymandering.
But the court, in a vote of four Democrats over three Republicans, blocked this opportunity. The majority opinion was the most contrived bit of jurisprudence since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision, a catalyst for the Civil War.
Um, wow.
The opinion is here.
- Nick - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 2:18 pm:
Whatever else
If you’re going to cite Dred Scott you should probably be a *bit* more careful
- NIU Grad - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 2:18 pm:
“the most contrived bit of jurisprudence since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision, a catalyst for the Civil War.”
Someone needs to get out more. Or less, I don’t know…
Yikes.
- SWIL_Voter - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 2:22 pm:
I support the most extreme gerrymander Dems can conceive
- EssentialStateEmployeeFromChatham - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 2:25 pm:
I brought this up in several replies to the new maps on May 24, but I’m surprised Nowlan didn’t mention in his article that his hometown of Toulon is among several western Illinois smaller communities split into two Senate districts. Population 1,292. Toulon is split between the proposed 37th and 47th Senate seats.
And elsewhere in western Illinois it gets even worse. Woodhull (pop. 818), where Rep. Swanson is from, is split between the 36th and 37th Senates. Although all of the town except the far west near I-74 (including Woodhull Plaza truck stop) is in the proposed 37th Senate/74th House. While the interstate and Woodhull Plaza are in the 36th Senate.
And if you want a laugh for the day, when the Google Street View car went through Woodhull in July 2018, Rep. Swanson had a sign in front of the Woodhull Plaza lawn:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.1782364,-90.3236059,3a,18.6y,259.91h,85.24t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s4cUTVtIaZjFgtJd1E7Ldyg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
If it’s still there, look for it to be moved across the street to the east next year.
And Good Hope, just north of Macomb, is also split between 36th and 37th Senate. West side of town in 37th and east side in 37th. Good Hope is population 396 but is famous for two sets of stoplights in town on 67–and the only remaining area of 2-lane 67 between Monmouth and Macomb.
Also in western Illinois, you got Macomb split between the new 36th and 47th Senates.
And Chatham split between Doris Turner’s new 48th and the new 54th (and my residence about 2 or 3 football fields into the new 54th from the boundary). I’m surprised Chatham wasn’t split 3 ways in the new map, however.
- Publius - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 2:28 pm:
There should be an independent commission for all 50 states. Until then it won’t matter. The ILGOP is all aganist this because they are in the minority and have no chance to get in the majority. In any other state these Republicans would do the same thing if not much worse.
- Annonin' - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 2:34 pm:
Not sure where Nowlan has been hiding since since the leader of his last folly, convicted Ex-Congressman LaHood, was exposed.
The folly he mentioned === putting auditor general in charge of remap === did not change the dates for the map to be done.
Go put a cold towel on that noggin
- Illiniman217 - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 2:36 pm:
Poor Jim has been on the downslide for the last 20 plus years. Have you read his thoughts on single motherhood and the “inner city” youth? Sheesh. But boy do those downstate newspaper editors love using his 500-word diatribes in a desperate bout for filler!
- Perrid - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 2:58 pm:
So, just a recap though I’m sure most of the commenters here know this. In Dred Scott, SCOTUS took a case when a slave claimed to be free because his master took him into a state where slavery was illegal, and from that decided, on their own, that Black people weren’t included in the word “citizen” in the Constitution, and thus had no rights under the Constitution, and then went further and said that the federal government, Congress, had no authority to ban slavery in some states. Maybe there was some basis for limiting federal authority, idk, but they made up the citizenship thing out of whole cloth. Just made it up. On the other hand, the IL Constitution defines what initiatives can be on the ballot. They just aren’t the same, and he looks silly for making the comprison.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 3:07 pm:
Going Dred Scott… not a good look.
How far some have gone down… pathetic
- Hannibal Lecter - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 3:11 pm:
Hyperbole much, Nowlan?
- Been There - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 3:12 pm:
===his hometown of Toulon is among several western Illinois smaller communities split into two Senate districts.====
I really don’t understand why people get upset that their town is split into two districts. I look at that now you have two senators that your town should be able to count on in Springfield. I represent a town in suburban Cook Co and it got split into two districts. I looked at it as a positive as now I can lean on both senators and reps to help.
- Lt Guv - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 3:12 pm:
Anymore it’s “Jim Who?”
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 3:22 pm:
After the 12th…
… the fates of Mary Miller, Davis, LaHood, and Kinzinger will be in the hands of map makers.
Bost is likely the least effected, and wishes the others well.
- Dotnonymous - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 3:24 pm:
I remember when Jim Nowland…never mind.
- Candy Dogood - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 3:25 pm:
Moderate GOP: Hey, what if we tried to make a convincing appeal to voters about what kind of common sense fiscally conservative policy we’ll champion in order to distract voters from our efforts to erode the rights of women, minorities, and the LGBT community?
Far Right GOP: NO! Constant rhetoric threatening violence and making references to civil war! Murragaaaaah!
- Anyone Remember - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 3:26 pm:
===EssentialStateEmployeeFromChatham===
We’ve seen worse maps. Moved into a precinct in Congressman Dick Durbin’s district, only to find out Pate Philip / Dennis Hastert had *split the precinct* and my congressman was Bob Michel. A quiet residential street was boundary. Both sides do it.
- @misterjayem - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 3:35 pm:
“the most contrived bit of jurisprudence since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision, a catalyst for the Civil War.”
Republicans keep turning up the reckless rhetoric and then will feign shock when they get the bloodshed that they’re explicitly inciting.
– MrJM
- Norseman - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 4:44 pm:
Oswego Willy @ 3:07 pm well said. He has lost all credibility.
- FearTheTree - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 5:48 pm:
“about what kind of common sense fiscally conservative policy”
Who is the constituency for that message?
Not the fiscally liberal, culturally conservative voters who opted for DJT.
And certainly not the fiscally conservative, culturally liberal voters who opted for Biden.
Meanwhile, with the 10-year bond at 1.21%, even Wall Street isn’t clamoring for less spending.
There is no political market for less spending among today’s voters.
- Not a Superstar - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 6:59 pm:
I remember Jim Nowlan lecturing on government “ethics” while hawking his book. He’s been in the gutter for a long time: we just recently took notice.
- Back to the Future - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 8:24 pm:
Seems we are being a bit unkind to Mr. Nowlan. Of course, his Dred Scott analogy was over the top, but he has done a lot of good things over the years and I still respect his views.
In terms of the the map, it is a obvious assault on voters rights. Just take a second and look at the map Pritzker approved. It is apparent that it was about as good an example of gerrymandering as one could find in the country.
We all say things in emails and logs that, at times, we regret. I know I have been saved on occasion by the editor of Cap Fax’s for things, on reflection, were not my best work.
I would respectfully suggest that we reflect on Mr. Nowlan’s long time work in government and don’t focus on some inappropriate remark.
The issue is the map and Jim Nowlan’s view is correct.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 8:50 pm:
- Just Me 2 -
Your victimhood is noted, as Raunerites tried to stall the clock to get a 50-50 chance to draw the map for themselves.
You know that, but…
- Roman - Thursday, Aug 5, 21 @ 9:51 pm:
Has Jim Nowlan followed how the conservative majority on the US Supreme Court has ruled on partisan Gerrymandering? They’re all for it. They’ve upheld previous opinions by their ideological godfather, Justice Scalia, who held a “to the victor goes the spoils” view of legislative map making.