SPRINGFIELD – Two elections have passed since the Illinois General Assembly approved new legislative maps, and now, Democrats’ attorneys argue in a recent court filing that Illinois Republicans have lost their opportunity to challenge the maps in court.
A case filed with the Illinois Supreme Court by House Republican Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, calls for the court to reject the current legislative map due to its partisan bias and to appoint a special master to redraw the districts. However, it remains unclear whether the court will take up the case.
McCombie, along with four voters, argues that the voting district maps are not “compact,” a requirement of the state constitution, leading to allegations of gerrymandering that favors Democrats.
Reference: https://capitolnewsillinois.com/news/democrats-argue-republicans-waited-too-long-to-file-latest-redistricting-lawsuit/
While the court has not yet decided whether to hear the case, it has asked both parties to explain whether McCombie and the other plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in a timely manner, a factor to consider in deciding whether to take the case.
The Senate Republican caucus is not involved in the current legal action.
In 2021, a federal three-judge panel rejected a lawsuit from multiple parties challenging the map, dismissing arguments that the map diluted the voting power of racial minorities. However, Republicans’ legal team claims that new data from the 2022 and 2024 elections prove that the map is a result of partisan gerrymandering.
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office, representing the State Board of Elections, filed a response stating it does not take a position on the timeliness of the complaint. However, the court allowed House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, and Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, to intervene as defendants.
Leading the defense for the General Assembly Democrats are three high-profile attorneys, including Mike Kasper. Kasper, a longtime elections lawyer, previously worked as the Democratic Party of Illinois’ top attorney and served as House Speaker Mike Madigan’s go-to legal expert on political matters.
Kasper, described by Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria, as “Darth Vader himself, Madigan’s henchman, the prince of darkness,” has successfully defended previous legislative maps against lawsuits.
Democrats’ lawyers argued that allowing plaintiffs to proceed now, in the middle of the decade, with their proposed redistricting challenge would encourage political parties to wait for favorable election results and use those to justify a partisan challenge to the legislative map.
The current state House and Senate maps were passed in 2021 and implemented in 2022 following the 2020 census. Since then, Republicans have not gained any seats in the General Assembly and remain in the minority.
A lawsuit filed by Illinois House Republicans identifies 52 House districts that they claim are less compact than a district the Illinois Supreme Court invalidated in 1981.
Efforts by Republicans and redistricting reform advocates in Illinois to challenge legislative maps in court have faced limited success in recent years. In 2016, the Illinois Supreme Court blocked a citizen-led referendum aiming to create an independent redistricting commission. The lead plaintiff in that case, John Hooker, is now a convicted conspirator in the “ComEd Four” case.
Other Republican attempts to throw out the 2011 legislative maps were also rejected by the courts.
In a March 19 filing, lawyers for Welch and Harmon argued that Republicans should have filed their lawsuit with the Illinois Supreme Court shortly after the maps were enacted in 2021, rather than waiting more than three years to file.
“These arguments could have, and should have, been raised years ago. Plaintiffs cannot claim they did not know about the map,” Democrats’ lawyers wrote.
They referenced statements made by Republican lawmakers during the 2021 House debate over the maps, pointing to data Republicans presented showing that the maps were neither compact nor drawn in a way that benefited Democrats.
McCombie’s lawyers countered that they followed their interpretation of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling requiring data from two election cycles to demonstrate any discriminatory effects caused by gerrymandering.
They argued that Democrats were putting them in a “catch-22” situation, comparing it to a “heads I win, tails you lose” scenario.
“If a plaintiff brings a gerrymandering challenge immediately after a map is passed, then the Intervenors would argue that the claim should fail due to insufficient evidence of the map’s effects,” McCombie’s lawyers wrote. “And if a plaintiff waits to gather evidence of the map’s effects, the Intervenors would argue the claim should fail procedurally.”
Republicans’ legal team argued that the 2024 election was the last time the district map was used, resulting in a recent “injury” to voters and Republicans, which should also meet the timeliness requirements. They also referenced a common law principle stating that the government is generally not subject to statutes of limitations.
Democrats countered that any redistricting the court might order could disrupt the staggered terms of Illinois senators. Senators serve two or four-year terms, meaning the entire Senate is not up for reelection at once.
Democrats’ attorneys argued that senators elected in 2024 could unfairly have their four-year terms shortened by redistricting.
McCombie’s legal team rejected this argument, citing case law where redistricting still allowed legislators to complete the terms they were elected to. They also noted that a court-appointed mapmaker could be instructed to avoid unseating senators when redrawing districts.
McCombie has requested oral arguments for the case, but the court has yet to announce the next steps in the legal proceedings.
