"Our state’s judicial branch is meant to be an impartial and independent system above the typical partisanship that has become all too common in Springfield." Sen. Win Stoller wrote. | Photo Courtesy of Win Stoller
"Our state’s judicial branch is meant to be an impartial and independent system above the typical partisanship that has become all too common in Springfield." Sen. Win Stoller wrote. | Photo Courtesy of Win Stoller
Republican state Sen. Win Stoller is calling out Democrats in Springfield over a “sham redistricting process” stemming from the passage of House Bill 3138.
The measure that is now headed to the desk of Gov. J.B. Pritzker for signature after it passed the House 66-34 along party lines seeks to create new judicial subcircuits in Sangamon, Madison and DuPage counties.
“The majority party has once again used a sham redistricting process in order to rush through new maps that will help secure their power,” Stoller said in a post to Facebook about the legislation. “Unfortunately, this time Democrats chose to corrupt our judicial system with their political games. Our state’s judicial branch is meant to be an impartial and independent system above the typical partisanship that has become all too common in Springfield. Yet on the very first day of our 2022 spring session, Democrat lawmakers unnecessarily passed new sub circuit boundaries in the name of partisan gains.”
Democrats are defending the proposed subcircuits and other changes in residential qualifications for elected circuit judges in the Chicago area the counties of Peoria, Champaign and Rock Island as being created with the goal of giving Black and Hispanic judicial candidates more of a chance to get elected in mind.
Stoller isn’t the only GOP lawmaker to see things differently.
With Republicans blasting the move as a brazen attempt to fill the bench with Democratic judges who would support Democratic initiatives and philosophies in court rulings, state Rep. Tim Butler, who also serves as the spokesman on the House Redistricting Committee, told the State Journal-Register that “it's an abomination to the people of Illinois. This is the perfect example of why politicians shouldn't draw maps.”
HB 3138 is designed to split the 7th Judicial Circuit — which covers the counties of Sangamon, Greene, Jersey, Macoupin, Morgan and Scott — into seven subcircuits, with each subcircuit including judges who would have to live in those subcircuits and be elected only by voters from the area. The legislation wouldn’t affect the terms of any current judges or any retention votes, which are conducted every six years after judges are first elected.
The bill also wouldn’t increase the overall number of $216,297-per-year circuit judges in the 12-judge 7th Circuit or in other circuits statewide, The SJR reported.
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