Commentary: A new Illinois law prevents constitutional challenges from being heard by downstate judges. This is a clear political power grab.
The stated reason for clogging up the legal pipelines is to prevent forum shopping, which is to say, stop constitutional challenges from being heard by downstate judges who are presumably less likely to side with the government. The other proffered rationale is that the move will conserve resources for the state attorney general’s office. However way you slice it, though, this is a clear political power grab.
First, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that Cook and Sangamon counties are hospitable venues for the government relative to the more rural counties that crisscross the state. Forcing constitutional challenges to emanate from those counties works to the government’s advantage, since the record upon which an appeals court makes its ultimate decision is based largely on the transcripts of proceedings at the trial court level.
Second, the two-county requirement is not enforced across the board, but rather, it grants certain groups better access to the legal system than others. The legislature carved out an exception to allow for constitutional challenges to collective bargaining disputes to be brought in any county in Illinois. The upshot is that public unions, a group favored by the left-leaning legislature, are permitted to challenge the constitutionality of laws in places that ordinary folks cannot.
Third, a majority of Illinoisans don’t live in either of the two designated counties. By giving undue influence to just two of the state’s 102 counties, residents of the other 100 counties are denied equal access to challenge laws they believe are unconstitutional, except potentially at a great inconvenience and expense to themselves. For those who don’t live anywhere near the state’s power centers, that can be a considerable barrier to seeking justice.
The government may be warranted in seeking to limit forum shopping, which can result in a cheap manipulation of the political process. But by limiting Illinoisans’ access to the legal process only to forums preferred by the government, our elected officials have engaged in precisely the same conduct that they are purportedly trying to prevent.
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