A bipartisan group called Independent Map Amendment had collected more than 500,000 IL voter signatures for a second attempt at allowing voters to decide whether they wanted an independent commission to draw Illinois’ statehouse boundaries rather than one political party’s leaders or another, but a group called the People’s Map filed suit objecting to the question. You have now viewed your allowance of free articles.
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“The intent demonstrated by both the plain constitutional language and this court’s prior case law imposes clear restrictions on the scope of permissible ballot initiatives”.
The court’s majority opinion said even when concerned citizens attempt to exercise their constitutional right to change government through ballot initiatives, the court had to follow the state constitution’s framers.
The Independent Map Amendment ballot measure is among reforms that Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has advocated for and has been part of the campaigns of many local Republican candidates, particularly in southern Illinois.
“Mapmaking by legislators – the very people whose re-elections depend on partisan maps – has led to a decline in competitive elections and voter dissatisfaction”, FitzSimons said. Under the proposed Independent Map Amendment, a non-partisan, 11-member independent commission would draw the state’s legislative district maps. “In short, the system is broken, and the way this Court interprets the Constitution seems likely to prevent its fix”.
The legal challenge was brought by an attorney linked to top Democrats. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of minority business and community leaders who claimed a new process would diminish minority representation, however those arguments were not addressed in court. However, those arguments weren’t addressed in court.
Independent Maps attorneys had argued that since legislative districts are the “building blocks of the General Assembly”, redistricting is by its nature structural and procedural. The referendum measure came up during budget talks earlier this summer when Rauner made it one of approximately a half-dozen legislative proposals that were conditions for breaking the budget stalemate that has plagued the state since last July.
The Independent Maps group, which gathered over 563,000 signatures from IL voters to get the proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot, expressed disappointment over the Supreme Court’s ruling and said it is considering whether to seek a rehearing.
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Independent Map Amendment Coalition Spokesman Jim Bray said there is still time to make the November ballot.
