Local Legislators Criticize Bill to Redraw Subcircuit Maps

Local legislators are criticizing passage of a bill to redraw judicial subcircuit maps.

St. Rep. Blaine Wilhour of Beecher City said the bill was acted on with little or no public notice and utilizing a Zoom committee hearing that saw no witnesses testify.

There are currently no judicial subcircuits in downstate Illinois. 

Peter Hancock of Capitol News Illinois reports the proposed amendment to House Bill 3138 would redraw judicial subcircuits in Cook County for the first time since 1991 as well as subcircuits in Kane, McHenry and Will counties for the first time since they were originally enacted in 2005.

It would also increase the number of subcircuits in Cook County to 20 from 15 so that as judges who are currently elected countywide retire, they would be replaced by judges elected from subcircuits.

The same would be true for Lake County, where the proposal would double the number of subcircuits from six to 12.

St. Sen. Jason Plummer also criticized the action:

“What happened this evening, once again in the dark of night, is a historic and extreme political power grab committed by politicians who have decided they want to change the rules because they no longer like how the people of Illinois are voting.  Even more egregiously, this is the legislative branch of government forcing unwanted changes on a separate and co-equal branch of government.  The judicial system should not be politicized and that is the singular goal of this effort.  The Democrat majority in the legislature, time and time again, have passed extremely unpopular and legally dubious new laws.  They are now desperately trying to re-shape the judiciary so that they can continue to impose their far-left political desires on a resistant population.  Nothing mandates or suggests they need to do this or they should do this.  This offensive act merely proves their ultimate desire – to move away from impartial courts unimpeded by politics to a judiciary held hostage by politicians and that will assist the Democrat majority, as well as their special interest allies, in two ways: 1) advancing an extreme agenda that does not reflect the values of the people of Illinois, and 2) that will be economically harmful to workers, families, and businesses throughout our great state.”

In the 17th Circuit, which covers Winnebago and Boone counties, the bill calls for consolidating four subcircuits into two.

The bill also would create subcircuits for the first time in DuPage County, the state's second-largest county, while establishing a "resident judge" model in Champaign, Peoria and Rock Island counties, which are all part of multicounty circuits. That means judges in those counties would be elected from within the county rather than from the entire circuit.

Similar changes are proposed for the 3rd Circuit, which includes Madison and Bond counties, and the 7th Circuit, which includes Sangamon County and five surrounding counties.

St. Sen. Darren Bailey said, “It’s a new year and business was conducted per usual in Springfield as the Majority party passed another legislative power grab, this time it’s legislation gerrymandering our sub circuit court maps.

“This issue was not time sensitive or even required and is clearly an attempt to gain more judges in the 2022 elections.

“What has happened here is a complete politicization of the judicial process and a further example of the corruption that exists in this state.”

The proposal was introduced on the first day of the 2022 session and appeared to take Republican lawmakers by surprise. They argued that there had been little focus on creating additional subcircuits outside of Cook County during public hearings of the House and Senate Redistricting Committees in recent months.

Democrats, however, said the idea had long been on the table since the General Assembly passed a law mandating the redrawing of existing subcircuits following the 2020 census.

"The law did not mandate that anything be done in these other counties, but it did elicit a conversation about subcircuits across the board," Senate President Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat, said during a committee hearing.

Harmon said the proposal would not add any new judges to the state's trial court system but would change the way some judges are elected. Most of the changes would not go into effect until the 2024 elections.