A Cook County judge on Wednesday tossed from the fall ballot a constitutional amendment to take away the General Assembly’s power to draw legislative district boundaries, dealing a loss to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and a win to Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan. The ruling marked the second time in three years that the Independent Maps group suffered a major legal setback in attempting to ask voters whether the state should remove much of the politics from redistricting. The stumbling block was the same as last time, with a judge finding the proposal did not fit a narrow legal window for a petition-driven initiative to change the Illinois Constitution. Independent Maps chairman Dennis FitzSimons vowed to appeal the case to the Illinois Supreme Court, in hopes the question could still appear on the Nov. 8 ballot. Both FitzSimons’ coalition and the People’s Map group that filed the lawsuit anticipated that’s where the case would end up anyway.
Madigan opposed the referendum, suggesting it would hurt protections on ensuring minority representation. The speaker has maintained his hold at the Capitol for more than three decades in part because he’s had the power to draw the boundaries of legislative districts, and a longtime Madigan ally was the attorney for People’s Map.
Rauner, Madigan’s chief nemesis, had thrown his support behind the referendum this year when it appeared that the initiative process could gain better traction than his own failed effort to get lawmakers to authorize such a ballot question. For more than a year, a new map-drawing process has been among a half-dozen legislative proposals Rauner has sought as conditions for breaking the budget stalemate in Springfield.
… The complex Independent Maps proposal seeks to ask voters to change the process so that it’s not exclusively in the hands of elected officials. Instead, the maps would be drawn by an 11-member board, including representatives of the four legislative leaders, and would require approval of seven commissioners with at least two Republicans and two Democrats on board. If the commission failed to reach a consensus, the two ranking state Supreme Court justices from each political party would appoint someone to draw a map.
Full Article: Judge knocks redistricting off Illinois ballot in loss for Rauner – Chicago Tribune.