Madison County state's attorney wants court to pause new law creating judicial subdistricts
The Madison County state's attorney filed for a temporary restraining order in Sangamon County court late Friday seeking to pause a newly enacted law that creates judicial subcircuits in several counties, including Sangamon County.
Thomas Haine made the filing because Madison County has judicial races this fall.
Sangamon County will have two subcircuits, including one covering most of Springfield, as part of the 7th Judicial Circuit, but those elections aren't slated until 2024.
The bill was signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker on Jan. 7. It was backed by Illinois Democrats and opposed by Republicans.
Haine, reached Saturday, said the new law has many "constitutional concerns."
"Our message to the court and our ask of the court is to pause this uniquely burdensome law that is being rushed through," said Haine, the son of the late state's attorney and Illinois State Sen. William Haine.
While Democrats said the bill would give Black and Hispanic judicial candidates a leg up in getting elected, State Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, earlier called the plan "an abomination to this institution (and) an abomination to the people of Illinois."
At worst, Haine said, the law could potentially disenfranchise voters.
The third subcircuit in Madison County has two judges, he pointed out, while the other two subcircuits have three judges each but are equal in population.
"What's the reason for that? If that's allowed to stand, why couldn't the General Assembly next give six subcircuit judges to the first subcircuit and one to subcircuit two and subcircuit three," Haine said. "There's no limiting principle."
Earlier: Pritzker signs bills creating judicial 'subcircuits,' tweaking police decertification
A pause is needed because "we need to make sure that those judicial elections are not held subject to what is later determined to be an unconstitutional law that has to be totally retooled in its workings for other counties," Haine said.
The action for relief was filed against the Illinois State Board of Elections, Pritzker and Cynthia A. Grant, the clerk of the Illinois Supreme Court.
Haine was hoping to get a hearing as early as Monday. Judges are assigned to the cases on a rotating basis, so it will be up to the schedule of the judge who gets the case about how soon it could be heard.
In an interview, Madison Co. State's Attorney Tom Haine said a new Illinois law creating judicial "subcircuits" in Madison and Sangamon counties among others has "serious constitutional concerns." Story coming in SJ-R.#SJRBreaking
— Steven Spearie (@StevenSpearie) January 22, 2022
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: A state's attorney from Edwardsville filed a lawsuit in Sangamon County
