The state is appealing a ruling that stays the redistricting of Madison County's judiciary.
On Tuesday, assistant attorney general Nadine Wichern filed notice of appeal at the Fourth District Appellate Court on behalf of defendants, including Gov. JB Pritzker.
The notice asks that Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge Ryan Cadagin's temporary restraining order be dissolved.
Pritzker
The TRO, in effect until another hearing set Feb. 15, preserves Madison County’s at-large judicial elections for the time being.
Cadigan heard arguments on Monday in a lawsuit Madison County State's Attorney Tom Haine filed on Jan. 21.
Haine argues that legislators who split Madison County into judicial subcircuits intended to manipulate outcomes of judicial elections.
A Democratically controlled legislature passed the subcircuit law late at night on Jan. 5, without input from Madison County officials. Bill sponsors from Chicago said it was needed to create more diversity on the bench.
The law creates three subcircuits in Madison County and one in Bond County.
In Madison County, it limits this year’s judicial elections to the first subdistrict, which includes the western part of the county along the Mississippi and gerrymanders into a northern portion of Edwardsville.
Haine objects to the transformation of “at large” judges, who win elections by running in both counties, into resident judges accountable only in subcircuits.
His lawsuit says that the General Assembly never before eliminated at-large judgeships in a circuit and replaced them with resident subcircuit judgeships.
The law, signed by Pritzker on Jan. 7, specifically targeted two Republican judges, Christopher Threlkeld and Amy Sholar, who were drawn out of Subcircuit 1. Both Threlkeld and Sholar indicated they would relocate into Subcircuit 1 so they would be eligible to run under provision of the new law.