For the first time in more than half a century, Illinois voters this fall will be electing Supreme Court justices from redrawn judicial districts, part of an overall trend that has seen the high court seats become increasingly the object of high-stakes politics.

“Things are a little less sleepy in the court races than they once were,” said Chris Mooney, W. Russell Arrington Professor of State Politics at University of Illinois Chicago. “We’ve got two seats up this term, and redistricting, and we had one guy ousted last go on a (failed) retention vote.”

Illinois politics being what they are, all of those factors are interrelated. The two Supreme Court seats up for grabs beginning with the June 28 primary are being chosen in the new 2nd and 3rd Judicial Districts made up of the counties surrounding Chicago and Cook County, plus a handful more to the immediate west and south.

A three-judge federal court panel on Friday set the week of Dec. 6 as the time it will hear three consolidated cases challenging the new legislative district maps that were drawn by Democrats and signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker earlier this year.

During a status conference held by teleconference Friday, U.S. District Judge Robert M. Dow Jr., who presides over the panel, said that while not all of the logistics have been worked out, the hearing will most likely be held in-person in the ceremonial courtroom of the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago.

State lawmakers approved the new maps during a special session in August following the delayed release of detailed 2020 U.S Census data. Pritzker signed them into law Sept. 24.

The maps establish the boundaries for all 118 districts in the Illinois House and 59 districts in the state Senate. But three groups of plaintiffs are suing in federal court arguing that the redistricting plan violates both the U.S. Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Each of the lawsuits claims that the new maps break up concentrated areas of minority voters who tend to vote as a bloc, thus depriving them of their right to elect candidates of their choice.

For the first time in more than half a century, Illinois voters this fall will be electing Supreme Court justices from redrawn judicial districts, part of an overall trend that has seen the high court seats become increasingly the object of high-stakes politics.

“Things are a little less sleepy in the court races than they once were,” said Chris Mooney, W. Russell Arrington Professor of State Politics at University of Illinois Chicago. “We’ve got two seats up this term, and redistricting, and we had one guy ousted last go on a (failed) retention vote.”

Illinois politics being what they are, all of those factors are interrelated. The two Supreme Court seats up for grabs beginning with the June 28 primary are being chosen in the new 2nd and 3rd Judicial Districts made up of the counties surrounding Chicago and Cook County, plus a handful more to the immediate west and south.

A three-judge federal court panel on Friday set the week of Dec. 6 as the time it will hear three consolidated cases challenging the new legislative district maps that were drawn by Democrats and signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker earlier this year.

During a status conference held by teleconference Friday, U.S. District Judge Robert M. Dow Jr., who presides over the panel, said that while not all of the logistics have been worked out, the hearing will most likely be held in-person in the ceremonial courtroom of the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago.

State lawmakers approved the new maps during a special session in August following the delayed release of detailed 2020 U.S Census data. Pritzker signed them into law Sept. 24.

The maps establish the boundaries for all 118 districts in the Illinois House and 59 districts in the state Senate. But three groups of plaintiffs are suing in federal court arguing that the redistricting plan violates both the U.S. Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Each of the lawsuits claims that the new maps break up concentrated areas of minority voters who tend to vote as a bloc, thus depriving them of their right to elect candidates of their choice.