New court documents provide a window into how the Independent Maps Coalition is trying to fend off a legal challenge. A lawsuit scuttled a similar redistricting effort two years ago.
Sometimes, blessings come in disguise. Maybe that's how it'll work for people who want a commission, rather than state legislators, to draw House and Senate district boundaries. Their 2014 effort to change the constitution was knocked off the ballot for not gathering enough valid signatures, but also a judge's ruling that the question itself was unconstitutional.
Campaign manager David Mellett says the judge then said something significant.
"She said that this type of initiative, would be constitutional," said Millet.
That judge's findings are peppered throughout just-filed documents defending the legality of this attempt.
"The last time around most of the language was spot on, except one small thing, that prevented people who would be on this independent commission from running for public office within ten years," said Millet
This new proposed constitutional amendment does not have that ban.
Still, critics say it has other legal problems, because it assigns the Auditor General and Illinois Supreme Court new roles in redistricting.
In motions filed Friday in Cook County Court, the Independent Maps Coalition argues those duties are limited, and within the scope of the law.
The new lawsuit was filed by the same man as last time, House Speaker Michael Madigan's attorney, and relies on some of the same arguments.
