A new Illinois law prohibiting judicial candidates from accepting out-of-state and so-called "dark money" anonymous contributions is being called unconstitutional by a First Amendment advocacy group.
"SB 536 is clearly unconstitutional," said Daniel Suhr, managing attorney at the Liberty Justice Center.
"Federal courts have consistently upheld the right of every American to participate in each state’s political system," Suhr said. "Moreover, far from fighting so-called dark money, the law is actually a ban on civic organizations and local chambers of commerce participating in the public square."
Democrat Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday signed the bill, which went into effect immediately.
Republican State Rep. Ryan Spain of Peoria, who voted against SB 536, also called the measure unconstitutional.
"The ability to make political donations is an example of free speech," Spain said, according to a report in The Center Square.
An example of the type of organization that would be sidelined under the new law is the conservative Citizens for Judicial Fairness committee, which funded the successful anti-retention campaign of Democrat supreme court justice Thomas Kilbride last year.
Kilbride's defeat opened opportunity for Republicans to elect a justice from the Third Judicial District in the 2022 general election, which could tip the balance of the court in their favor.
Illinois Republican Party communications director Joe Hackler said Democrats "aren't resolved to simply try and do better with voters in 2022 as the majority on the Supreme Court is up for grabs."
"No, they have chosen to continue their anti-democratic maneuvering to stack the deck in their favor by unconstitutionally banning campaign contributions from individuals from out of state and anonymously," Hackler said. "This is in addition to their redrawing and gerrymandering the whole state judicial map for the first time in decades this past spring session. Democrats cannot win at the ballot box so they are attempting to game the electoral process via legislation."
Republican candidate for governor Paul Schimpf of Waterloo said he would have vetoed the ominbus bill, which includes other election-related measures, because it lacks election integrity safeguards.
"Out of all of the items included in SB 536, improving and increasing election integrity safeguards was not one of them," Schimpf said.
"Yet, they are so focused on their one-party control that they don't even consider what the voters want—and Illinoisans want to know their vote will be counted fairly and securely. But Democrats couldn't even reach across the aisle to make election integrity a pillar of our voting process. Good government and governance starts at the top and under JB Pritzker's leadership deficit, Illinois voters will experience another election with a lack of safeguards that promote integrity in the system."
Local bill sponsors included Sen. Rachelle Crowe (D-Alton) and Sen. Christopher Belt (D-East St. Louis).
State Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Collinsville) was the only House sponsor.
Stuart told The Center Square the measure was something all Illinoisans could support.
"I think trying to avoid dark money from elections is something I think we can all get behind," Stuart said, according to The Center Square. "So the change would stop out of state and untraceable money from finding its way into our judicial races."
Other provisions of the omnibus bill include:
-Gives voter applicants the option of selecting "non-binary" when designating gender. "Male" and "female" are still options.
-Polling places accessible to voters with disabilities and elderly voters shall include at least one voting booth that is wheelchair accessible.
-In provisions concerning county apportionment commissions for the reapportionment of 2021, provides that the county board shall complete the reapportionment by Dec. 31 (currently, the third Wednesday in November).