Filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois…
Plaintiffs bring this lawsuit to protect the fundamental rights of Illinois voters and to invalidate the state legislative redistricting plan passed by the Illinois General Assembly on May 28, 2021 and signed into law by Governor Pritzker on June 4, 2021 (the “Redistricting Plan” or “Plan”). In its zeal to rush a plan through the legislature, the General Assembly drew the legislative districts in the Plan using population estimates derived from a survey rather than waiting a few months for the U.S. Census Bureau (the “Census Bureau” or “Bureau”) to provide redistricting data containing official population counts from the 2020 decennial census. Plaintiffs seek a declaration that the Plan is unconstitutional, invalid, and thus void ab initio. Plaintiffs also seek an order directing Defendants Emanuel Christopher Welch and Don Harmon to appoint members to a bipartisan redistricting commission (“