Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has hit upon a creative and fabulous means of stifling dissent. On Wednesday, Pritzker signed into law a measure that would require anyone wanting to challenge the constitutionality of state laws or the governor’s executive orders to file suit in either Cook County or Sangamon County, which are located downstate.
It isn’t that Cook County is heavily Democratic and Sangamon County is marginally Republican. The problem is that there are 102 counties in the state of Illinois, and there are only two counties where the state’s 12.6 million residents can file suit against their government.
Fair warning, this is not parody:#Illinois Gov Pritzker signs law requiring lawsuits challenging constitutionality of executive orders or state laws be filed in only 2 counties, Cook or Sangamon.
There are 102 counties in Illinois. #Wednesday #laws https://t.co/WMyMmz5NF0
— Beverly A. Pekala (@PekalaLaw) June 7, 2023
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law yesterday that requires all challenges to state law or executive orders to be filed in either Cook or Sangamon County.
You may now only redress your government in IL where liberals control everything.https://t.co/pWVq9YKMKO
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 7, 2023
Democratic State Sen. Don Harmon was upfront about the reason for the bill.
Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) said his bill was intended to stop favorable “venue shopping” for lawsuits and would still allow individuals to bring cases against the state in local courts, but not cases that seek to overturn state law.
Sen. Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville) told The Center Square that the law would tilt those cases in favor of the state, since Cook and Sangamon counties are heavily Democrat.
“And it’s time that you start showing some respect to the people of Illinois,” Plummer said. “Quit limiting their rights, quit taking their rights away, and frankly when you take their rights away, at least give them the decency and the respect to allow their concerns about their rights being taken away be heard in a local courthouse.”
“They all eventually end up in the (Illinois) Supreme Court,” Harmon said. “Which, by the way, sits in Sangamon County and Cook County.”
There’s nothing “by the way” about it. This is a blatant attempt to discourage challenges to the rule of Democrats in the state. And Pritzker and the Democrats can do it because their control of the state is total and complete.
It began in early 2022 when the Democrats pushed through a radically gerrymandered redistricting bill that forced 12 Republican incumbents into six House districts. Democrats held 73 of 118 House seats under former Speaker MIke Madigan’s gerrymander. Their new, more extreme gerrymander helped them pick up four more seats in the House and solidified their supermajority in both the House and the Senate.
And because there are three Supreme Court seats from Cook County, the nine-member state high court is guaranteed to be heavily Democratic.
Challengers to the power of Democrats in Illinois are being given a smaller legal space to operate in because Democrats don’t want to entertain dissent. And if it inconveniences the Republicans, all the better.
Rep. Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis), echoed Plummer’s sentiment, saying, “You know, where I live, I’m closer to the state capitol of Tennessee than I am Illinois, and I’m almost as close to Atlanta, Georgia, as I am Chicago, Illinois,” he said. “So to say if this body passes an unconstitutional law, in order for me or another person in my community to contest that law, I’ve got to travel a great distance and bear that expense that comes with that, is not fair to the individuals in these communities.”
I am not a constitutional scholar — especially the Illinois constitution. But if this bill passes constitutional muster in the state Supreme Court, it will confirm that Illinois residents live under a one-party dictatorship.
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