The Fourth District Appellate Court today reversed a temporary restraining order which suspended the application of the new subcircuit law in Madison County.
"We are disappointed with this result, but appreciate the court’s prompt decision," Madison County State's Attorney Tom Haine said in a statement. "We remain undeterred in our fight against this unconstitutional law.
“We find significant encouragement in the Appellate Court’s analysis. In today’s summary order, the Appellate Court pointedly asked for a deep consideration of one of our central concerns: ‘The issue of whether the General Assembly can eliminate all at-large judgeships within a particular judicial circuit.’ The Appellate Court then ‘encourage[d] the parties and Circuit Court to proceed expeditiously in this matter given the implications on the upcoming elections.’
“We couldn’t agree more. We are confident that the fundamental Constitutional issues with this law will ultimately resolve in our favor. We look forward to presenting our motion for preliminary injunction to the Circuit Court on February 15, and moving toward a full resolution of the merits of this case as soon as possible."
The state's Democratically controlled legislature passed the bill Jan. 5, and was signed by Gov. JB Pritzker on Jan. 7. It established boundaries within the Third Judicial Circuits: three sub-circuits in Madison County and one in Bond County. In so doing, it eliminated the circuit's at-large judgeships - where candidates would run in both counties, and the law declared all circuit judgeships to be resident judges of subcircuits.
In addition to defining subcircuit boundaries, the legislation also defines the order in which eight judicial vacancies must be filled in Madison County. It begins with Subcircuit 1, which is generally the western portion of the county. The first three circuit court vacancies are allotted to Subcircuit 1; the next three to the central portion of the county in Subcircuit 2 and the remaining two judgeships to the eastern portion of the county in Subcircuit 3.
Bond County is its own subcircuit and elects just one circuit judge.