SPRINGFIELD – Attorneys for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, have filed an amended complaint in federal court in a lawsuit that seeks to block a newly-enacted legislative redistricting plan from going into effect.
The amended complaint, filed Wednesday in the Northern District of Illinois, is intended to address some of the issues raised in a recent motion by Democratic leaders in the General Assembly to dismiss the case.
Specifically, the new complaint argues that each of the individually named plaintiffs – Julie Contreras, Irvin Fuentes, Abraham Martinez, Irene Padilla and Rose Torres – live within districts that are malapportioned under the new maps and that, as a result, their votes would be diluted in the 2022 elections.
The new complaint also argues that the Illinois State Board of Elections and each of its individual members are responsible for administering the elections.
The suit, which was filed June 10, seeks a declaration that the new maps violate the U.S. Constitution’s one person-one vote requirement because they are based on population estimates from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey rather than official numbers from the 2020 decennial census. It also asks the court to bar the State Board of Elections from administering next year’s races based on those maps.
It is one of two lawsuits challenging the new maps and the cases are being heard together by a three-judge federal panel in Chicago. The other suit was filed by the top two Republican leaders in the General Assembly, House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, of Western Springs, and Senate Minority Leader Dan McConchie, of Hawthorn Woods.
Both lawsuits also name House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, of Hillside, and Senate President Don Harmon, of Oak Park, as defendants.
The new maps were approved along partisan lines in the final days of the spring legislative session. Democratic leaders argued that the use of ACS data was appropriate because official census numbers won’t be available until mid-August, long past the June 30 date set in the Illinois Constitution for lawmakers to approve a redistricting plan.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks about available help for people who are struggling to afford housing in Illinois.
After that date, under the state constitution, the process is handed to a bipartisan commission where partisan advantage could be determined by a random draw.
On July 16, attorneys for Welch and Harmon filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing, among other things, that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue because they had not asserted that they were personally and individually disadvantaged by the plan.
They also argued that there is nothing in state or federal law that requires the use of official census data in drawing state legislative districts and, in fact, that courts throughout the country, including in Illinois, have allowed the use of ACS estimates.
Finally, they argued that the case is not ripe for litigation because it won’t be known until the official census numbers come out whether the new maps violate the standards that courts have set for equal representation.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 24, about one week after the official census numbers are expected to be released. Trial in the case is tentatively set for Sept. 27-29.
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Maria Elena Estamilla, 62, sheds tear while sharing her struggle of remaining without an insurance, Wednesday, June 30, 2021, at her house in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. Most mornings, Estamilla wakes up with pelvic pain and dread that she faces the same fate as her mother and grandmother: fatal cervical cancer. (AP Photo/Shafkat Anowar)
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Eugenia Rodriguez, right, and her 84-year-old non-citizen mother, Francisca Perez, pose for a portrait in their house in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood.
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Eugenia Rodriguez, left, looks toward her 84-year-old, non-citizen mother, Francisca Perez, who colors a book, a part of her regular exercise to recover rheumatoid arthritis, Wednesday, June 30, 2021, in their house in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. Rodriguez hasn’t been eligible for insurance coverage after overstaying a visitor visa from Mexico. She used to wake up every two or three hours at night to check on her mother. Since getting health insurance through the Illinois program, her mother has all the medications she needs. (AP Photo/Shafkat Anowar)
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Maria Elena Estamilla, 62, left, and her daughter Esmeralda Triquiz pose for a photo in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. Estamilla’s last full medical exam was in 2015 and she sees no options for care as a Mexican immigrant without legal permission to live in the U.S. She’s not eligible for Medicare, Medicaid or Affordable Care Act coverage.
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Francisca Perez, 84, rearranges puzzle pieces, a part of her regular exercise to recover from rheumatoid arthritis, Wednesday, June 30, 2021, in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. She suffers from a heart condition and depression, among other ailments. Her daughter, Eugenia Rodriguez, hasn’t been eligible for insurance coverage after overstaying a visitor visa from Mexico. She used to wake up every two or three hours at night to check on her mother. Since getting health insurance through the Illinois program, her mother has all the medications she needs. (AP Photo/Shafkat Anowar)
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Eugenia Rodriguez, right, maneuvers the wheelchair with her 84-year-old mother, Francisca Perez, who suffers from a heart condition, rheumatoid arthritis and depression, among other ailments, Wednesday, June 30, 2021, in their house in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. Rodriguez hasn’t been eligible for insurance coverage after overstaying a visitor visa from Mexico. She used to wake up every two or three hours at night to check on her mother. Since getting health insurance through the Illinois program, her mother has all the medications she needs. (AP Photo/Shafkat Anowar)
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Francisca Perez, 84, sits on a wheelchair in her house in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, Wednesday, June 30, 2021. She suffers from a heart condition, rheumatoid arthritis and depression, among other ailments. Her daughter, Eugenia Rodriguez, hasn’t been eligible for insurance coverage after overstaying a visitor visa from Mexico. She used to wake up every two or three hours at night to check on her mother. Since getting health insurance through the Illinois program, her mother has all the medications she needs. (AP Photo/Shafkat Anowar)
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Eugenia Rodriguez shares a moment with her youngest son, Aaron, 6, while reading a children’s book Friday, July 2, 2021, in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. Rodriguez hasn’t been eligible for insurance coverage after overstaying a visitor visa from Mexico. She used to wake up every two or three hours at night to check on her mother. Since getting health insurance through the Illinois program, her mother has all the medications she needs. (AP Photo/Shafkat Anowar)
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Eugenia Rodriguez, left, plays ball with her youngest son, Aaron, 6, in the backyard of her house Friday, July 2, 2021, in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. Rodriguez hasn’t been eligible for insurance coverage after overstaying a visitor visa from Mexico. She used to wake up every two or three hours at night to check on her mother. Since getting health insurance through the Illinois program, her mother has all the medications she needs. (AP Photo/Shafkat Anowar)
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Francisca Perez, 84, sits by the dining table on a wheelchair in her house in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, Wednesday, June 30, 2021. She suffers from a heart condition, rheumatoid arthritis and depression, among other ailments. Her daughter, Eugenia Rodriguez, hasn’t been eligible for insurance coverage after overstaying a visitor visa from Mexico. She used to wake up every two or three hours at night to check on her mother. Since getting health insurance through the Illinois program, her mother has all the medications she needs. (AP Photo/Shafkat Anowar)
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Eugenia Rodriguez walks in Chicago’s La Villita Park, Thursday, July 1, 2021. She is required to get out for a walk or a run every morning to keep her varicose veins active and hasn’t been eligible for insurance coverage after overstaying a visitor visa from Mexico. Rodriguez used to wake up every two or three hours at night to check on her mother in their Chicago home. Since getting insurance through the Illinois program, her mother has proper medications. (AP Photo/Shafkat Anowar)
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Members of Health Illinois coalition celebrate the extension of state health insurance coverage to older immigrants, ages 55 and over, living in the country illegally, Tuesday, July 20, 2021, in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. The state was the first nationwide to offer a Medicaid-like program for immigrant seniors last year and used this year’s budget to expand the program. (AP Photo/Shafkat Anowar)
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Eugenia Rodriguez holds the hand of her youngest son, Aaron, 6, while reading from the Bible in her house, Friday, July 2, 2021, in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. Rodriguez hasn’t been eligible for insurance coverage after overstaying a visitor visa from Mexico. She used to wake up every two or three hours at night to check on her mother. Since getting health insurance through the Illinois program, her mother has all the medications she needs. (AP Photo/Shafkat Anowar)
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Eugenia Rodriguez enters her house after playing ball with her son Friday, July 2, 2021, in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. Rodriguez hasn’t been eligible for insurance coverage after overstaying a visitor visa from Mexico. She used to wake up every two or three hours at night to check on her mother. Since getting health insurance through the Illinois program, her mother has all the medications she needs. (AP Photo/Shafkat Anowar)