Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine has filed a notice of appeal on the Feb. 24 dismissal of his lawsuit against a state law that divided Madison County's judiciary into three subcircuits.
“This subcircuit law is unjust, unconstitutional, and riddled with problems,” Haine stated in a press announcement.
“We can discern no legitimate reason why it needs to be implemented on such a rushed timeframe in Madison County but not elsewhere in the state. This sudden, unexplained rush has forced Madison County into court, where a bipartisan and overwhelming majority of the County Board resolved to defend our fundamental commitment to a fair and equal justice system. That legal fight continues with this appeal.”
Madison County is joined on the appeal by all plaintiffs, Christina Wiley, Daniel McConchie, and Judges Amy Sholar and Christopher Threlkeld.
On Jan. 21, Haine filed a lawsuit on behalf of the citizens of Madison County challenging the constitutionality of House Bill 3138, the Judicial Circuits Redistricting Act of 2022. This bill, which was signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker on Jan. 7, divided Madison County into three subcircuits and removed countywide elections of judges.
Of the 16 counties affected by this legislation, Madison County is the only one that will have county-wide judicial elections removed immediately, before the 2022 elections. The remainder of the affected circuits are not required to implement these changes until 2024.
Following a hearing on Jan. 24 in Springfield, Sangamon County Circuit Judge Ryan Cadagin issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the legislation, which halted the implementation of the subcircuits. The state appealed the halt in implementation and following the lifting of the TRO by the appellate court on the state’s appeal, Cadagin dismissed the case.
“We continue to call upon the Illinois legislature to rethink its sudden departure from over a century of precedent and reconsider this subcircuit scheme until after the 2022 elections,” Haine added. “Let’s let cooler heads prevail, allow the public an opportunity to comment, and ensure any subcircuit scheme applied to Madison County is constitutional.”
GOP officials have voiced strong opposition to the legislation they say was written "by the Chicago machine" to specifically carve out of contention two Republican circuit judges - Threlkeld and Sholar - who announced last year their intention to run county-wide for the seats they currently occupy by appointment.
The state's Democratically controlled legislature passed the bill Jan. 5 establishing boundaries within the Third Judicial Circuits: three sub-circuits in Madison County and one in Bond County.
The measure was supported by local lawmakers Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Belleville), Katie Stuart (D-Collinsville) and Sen. Rachelle Crowe (D-Maryville).