* Background…
Two elections have come and gone since the Illinois General Assembly passed new legislative maps, and Democrats’ attorneys argue in a new court filing that Illinois Republicans have lost their opportunity to challenge the maps in court.
A case brought to the Illinois Supreme Court by House Republican Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, asked the court to reject the current legislative map for its partisan bias and have a special master redraw the districts. But it is not yet known whether the court will take the case.
* From the Illinois Supreme Court today…
This cause comes before the court on the motion of Tony McCombie et al. for leave to file a complaint for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief as an original action in this court under article IV, section 3, of the Illinois Constitution of 1970. Plaintiffs seek to challenge the legislative redistricting plan for election of members of the Illinois General Assembly signed into law on September 24, 2021. … The parties have filed briefs as directed by the court on the issue of whether plaintiffs’ motion for leave to file an original action pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 382 (eff. July 1, 2017) is timely. […]
Plaintiffs argue that their motion seeking leave to challenge the 2021 Enacted Plan under article IV, section 3, of the Illinois Constitution is timely, but they rely on federal and out-of-state case law for that proposition. These cases do not inform our decision on whether plaintiffs’ motion in this court is timely. Plaintiffs also fail to discuss or even recognize the expeditious filing and disposition of every previous redistricting case considered by this court since the adoption of the 1970 Constitution. See People ex rel. Scott v. Grivetti, 50 Ill. 2d 156 (1971) (per curiam) (plaintiffs sought to invoke this court’s original and exclusive jurisdiction on October 19, two months after the filing of the redistricting plan on August 10, 1971); Schrage v. State Board of Elections, 88 Ill. 2d 87 (1981) (plaintiffs sought to invoke this court’s original and exclusive jurisdiction on October 19, 14 days after the filing of the redistricting plan on October 5, 1981); People ex rel. Burris v. Ryan, 147 Ill. 2d 270 (1991) (plaintiffs sought to invoke this court’s original and exclusive jurisdiction on October 11, seven days after the filing of the redistricting plan on October 4, 1991); Cole-Randazzo v. Ryan, 198 Ill. 2d 233 (2001) (plaintiffs sought to invoke this court’s original and exclusive jurisdiction on September 27, two days after the filing of redistricting plan on September 25, 2001). Notably, plaintiffs do not even acknowledge this court’s most recent redistricting case from 2012, when this court similarly ordered the parties to brief the issue of timeliness of the challenge to the legislative map and then denied the plaintiffs leave to file their complaint. See Cross v. Illinois State Board of Elections, No. 113840 (Ill. June 7, 2012) (plaintiffs denied leave to file complaint after they waited eight months to seek leave to challenge the redistricting plan, from June 3, 2011, to February 8, 2012).
Plaintiffs’ timing in filing the instant motion shows a lack of due diligence. The current redistricting map was signed into law on September 24, 2021. On December 30, 2021, a three-judge federal district court panel in three consolidated cases rejected challenges that the map violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. § 10301 et seq. (2018)) and the equal protection clause (U.S. Const., amend. XIV) by engaging in racial gerrymandering. See McConchie v. Scholz, 577 F. Supp. 3d 842, 885 (N.D. Ill. 2021). No appeal was taken from that decision. Plaintiffs’ instant motion for leave to file in this court states that they are challenging the constitutionality of the 2021 Enacted Plan because it features numerous districts that were gerrymandered for strictly partisan purposes and that it violates the requirements of article IV, section 3(a), that legislative and representative districts are compact. Plaintiffs could have brought this argument years ago. Their claim that waiting multiple election cycles is necessary to reveal the effects of redistricting is unpersuasive.
Plaintiffs’ approach would also be prejudicial and create uncertainty for voters and officeholders alike, now and in the future, as to whether any redistricting plan in Illinois is ever final. Plaintiffs’ motion for leave to file was brought more than three years and four months after the adoption of the current map. This delay is 32 months more than the delay in the 2012 challenge, which this court denied in Cross. We are closer to the next decennial census than the last. Plaintiffs seek to use data that may now be stale, which could be prejudicial to the parties as well as the public.
For these reasons, plaintiffs’ motion for leave to file a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief pursuant to Rule 382 is untimely and barred by laches.
Justice David Overstreet dissented. Justice Lisa Holder White took no part in the decision.
I’ll post any statements I receive from the House Republican Leader.
…Adding… From House Minority Leader Tony McCombie…
After the Illinois Supreme Court refused to take up Illinois House Minority Leader Tony McCombie’s lawsuit to fight for Illinois voters through a fair map, she released the following statement:
“Today is a shameful day in Illinois history. The voices of voters have once again been silenced by a Democratic machine that will stop at nothing to cling to power. This isn’t leadership — it’s a raw, cynical power grab. Every Illinoisan, regardless of political affiliation, should be outraged by what just happened.
“Governor JB Pritzker lied to the people of this state. He promised a fair map — but instead stood by as his party drew the most partisan gerrymander possible, rigging the system for yet another decade. This isn’t democracy.
“Let’s be clear: Democrats have no interest in protecting voters — only in protecting their majority. They’ve proven they’ll twist the rules, ignore the public, and crush accountability to keep their grip on power. House Republicans will not stop exposing this injustice. We will fight every day to restore fairness, transparency, and trust in our elections — because the people of Illinois deserve nothing less.”
- CPA Candice B Rittenoff - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 11:56 am:
This ruling is very disheartening. The map is what underpins the extremism of Illinois politics. Gerrymandering is what underpins the same extremism that exists in Red states also. The Federal Government seems to have no interest in fixing this broken system either. So we have to continue on, becoming more partisan, more divided, and more torn apart….all because we can’t draw a map.
- Leatherneck - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 12:14 pm:
The plaintiffs need to get onto Dave’s Redistricting Map and prepare alternative legislative and congressional maps while also accounting for majority-minority districts, etc.
- low level - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 12:16 pm:
==all because we can’t draw a map.==
Nonsense. The map is beautiful, a true work if art. When the good ole’ boys in Texas and Florida start drawing “fair” maps, then talk to me. Otherwise my only regret is it couldnt be made even more blue.
- Just Me 2 - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 12:19 pm:
This ruling is unfair. The only way the GOP can prove in court the map is biased is by showing election results, and now that they have the evidence, the court rules they took too long.
- Macon Deliberations - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 12:20 pm:
Someone suggested one time on twitter that a state’s judiciary should draw multiple maps and then the legislature somehow votes which one they like best. That’s an awesome proposal if we can figure out how to get a vote done on something when the answer isn’t yay or nay.
- low level - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 12:28 pm:
==by showing election results==
The election results show voters in Illinois overwhelmingly favor the Democratic Party. See the most recent municipal and township elections. Map or no map, this is a progressive state.
- Socially DIstant Watcher - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 12:33 pm:
The House Republicans have been busy the last two elections writing important legislation to improve the state. Of course they couldn’t have brought this suit any sooner.
/s
- TJ - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 12:40 pm:
Gerrymandering is awful; but the simple fact of the matter is that gerrymandering has been done to extremes by the Republicans in loads of red states as well, and as such expecting Dems in Illinois to unilaterally disarm is blatantly nonsensical. After all, Cuomo kneecapping his party and preventing gerrymandering in New York is arguably the key reason why the GOP retook the House in 2022 after they stacked the decks in Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida, and Texas. Just like that, the entire second half of the Biden administration legislatively accomplished nothing, which in turn lead to a major advantage to the GOP in the 2024 presidential election.
Want gerrymandering to end? It has to be done by both parties across the board. Doing may result in fairer maps, for sure, but if only blue states like California have fair map requirements while all the GOP states don’t then the end result is a major disbalance in power beyond what’d proportionally be expected otherwise. If the Dems were able to gerrymander California, the House would be easily a safe Dem hold barring a major GOP landslide.
- Center Drift - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 12:52 pm:
The ineffectiveness of the Republican party aside, the courts have continually ignored the idea of compact and contiguous boundaries. Even admitting that Illinois is a Democratic state the district boundaries are a joke on the constitutions description of districts. But until some court is willing to acknowledge that political parties should not be able to twist districts, and it will need to be the Supreme Court so that it is fair across the country we’ll have to live with the Illinois version of voter segregation.
- Steve - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 12:58 pm:
Good news for the Illinois GOP: after the next election, when your state loses a Congressional seat it does become more difficult to effectively gerrymander things.It’s harder to the jiggsaw puzzle thing when you have less pieces.
- Nope. - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 1:02 pm:
Ah laches…I haven’t seen that rear it’s head since our old friends Senators Clayborne and Noland’s legislative pay raise suit. Classic.
Btw, laches is an issue specifically taken out of play in the Judiciary’s current Tier II reciprocity lawsuit.
- JB13 - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 1:29 pm:
Democrats rule Democrats can do what they want, and when they can’t, you can’t challenge it anyway
- Duck Duck Goose - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 1:52 pm:
The GOP’s case seems dubious. It argues that the districts are unconstitutional because they are not compact. Whether they are compact or not does not depend on subsequent election results. Would those districts suddenly squeeze down to be more compact if voters had picked different candidates? Also, compactness would almost certainly been an issue ruled on in the federal legislation. If laches hadn’t applied here, res judicata probably would have.
This case seems more like a publicity stunt than a real legal case.
- thechampaignlife - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 2:38 pm:
===The map is what underpins the extremism of Illinois politics===
I am not fan of gerrymandering, but you give too much credit to the map. The map did not force 308,825 voters in a district of 746,000 people to re-elect Rep. “Hitler was right”. The extremism goes so much deeper.
===The only way the GOP can prove in court the map is biased is by showing election results===
Waiting until you have election results is too late. If the map is bad, you should want to fix it before it is used for an election. There are historical election results that can be overlayed onto new maps to analyze bias. You know, like how they tried in December 2021. That is timely. They lost that case and chose not to appeal it. They did not try again after the 2022 election. At some point, you own your inaction.
===district boundaries are a joke on the constitutions description of districts===
There would need to be some easily-applied rule to establish what is compact. For instance, the width of a district cannot be less than half nor greater than twice the height.
===It’s harder to the jiggsaw puzzle thing when you have less pieces===
The funny thing is that more pieces also makes it hard to jigsaw. If there were one million districts, there are only so many ways to pack groups of 13 people into contiguous districts.
===Would those districts suddenly squeeze down to be more compact if voters had picked different candidates?===
Great point.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 2:51 pm:
What part of “Anonymous commenters… will be deleted” do some of y’all not understand?
It’s really getting out of hand.
- Norseman - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 3:07 pm:
Leader McCombie, given what your party is doing throughout this country, it’s impossible to take you seriously.
- Stephenson County - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 3:57 pm:
When Republicans quit gerrymandering in states they control, i.e. Texas, Florida, Ohio, N. Carolina, and many others, then the Illinois GOP would have a valid point, IMO. Until then quit whining and try nominating candidates that can appeal to voters.
- observer - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 10:30 pm:
How many taxpayer dollars were spent on this lawsuit?