The entrance of the federal court in the Southern District of Illinois is shown in East St. Louis. Photo: Greg Bishop / The Center Squar
By Sean Reed | The Center Square
Illinois’ congressional district map is being challenged over what some argue are unconstitutional racial requirements for districts. A former Republican state representative sued Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the State Board of Elections late last week.
Jeanne Ives, a former representative of the state’s 42nd district, brought the case backed by J. Christian Adams, president and general counsel of the Public Interest Legal Foundation.
Filed in the U.S. District Court in the Central District of Illinois, the official complaint claims congressional maps drawn after the 2020 U.S. Census are unconstitutional because the Illinois Voting Rights Act of 2011 mandates the creation of “racial districts.”
Ives told The Center Square Daily that state Democrats have brazenly moved to draw maps based on racial lines.
“It’s very obvious to anybody looking at Illinois maps, and Illinois law, that these districts are in fact – they use race to design the districts and the SCOTUS decision makes it abundantly clear that you just can’t do that anymore,” Ives said.
Ives said a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which determined Louisiana’s district map as unconstitutional because of an over-reliance on race, is what has explicitly made it clear that Illinois’ congressional map as unconstitutional.
Report continues here.
Related: “U.S. Supreme Court decision puts brakes on Illinois redistricting amendment”
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