Chicago City Wire

The Northwest Side GOP Club is bashing the Pritzker administration and Illinois Democrats for passing legislation that will limit the ability of opponents to challenge unconstitutional legislation.

The law requires any constitutional challenge to a state law, rule or executive order to be filed in only two counties—Cook and Sangamon—effectively limiting the venues where challenges to the Democratic agenda can be heard and potentially hindering conservative opposition to progressive legislation.

"The change means a downstate farmer will have to travel to Chicago or Springfield to challenge a law but the same won’t apply to Illinois public unions," the Northwest Side GOP Club said in a June Facebook post, quoting a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Editorial Board opinion piece. "In true Springfield fashion, government unions received a special exemption. The venue changes don’t apply to 'claims arising out of collective bargaining disputes' between Illinois and the unions.

"The Democratic definition of efficient government in Illinois is now lawmaking without judicial review. Downstate courts are often the only place where progressive laws encounter any resistance. Mr. Pritzker has eliminated them by fiat."

In their June editorial titled Gutting Judicial Review in Illinois, the WSJ Editorial Board was highly critical of the move by Democratic lawmakers to limit the challenges to laws they make to two courts known to be sympathetic to Democratic causes. The board argued that the move undermines the judicial system's role in resolving conflicting lower-court decisions and consolidates power in the hands of the Democratic majority, eroding checks and balances in Illinois.

"The Democratic definition of efficient government in Illinois is now lawmaking without judicial review," the editorial board said. "Downstate courts are often the only place where progressive laws encounter any resistance. Mr. Pritzker has eliminated them by fiat."

Attorney General Kwame Raoul's office supported the bill, noting that it aims to prevent "judge shopping" by downstate conservatives, a May Herald & Review report said. The bill faced opposition from Republicans, who argued that it limits access to courts and is a form of venue shopping in itself.

"The people of Illinois are entitled to know with certainty what laws are in effect and where," Raoul spokeswoman Annie Thompson said in the report. "Over the past few years, inconsistent court decisions about important public issues have repeatedly caused confusion about what laws Illinois residents are supposed to follow."

The move comes after several priorities of the Pritzker administration were struck down by state courts as unconstitutional.

By limiting the courts in which such challenges can be brought, Pritzker and his allies are attempting to control which cases have the ability to make it to appeals courts. The change would limit rulings such as the one earlier this year by Effingham County Judge Joshua Morrison who ruled a sweeping gun ban unconstitutional and issued a temporary restraining order preventing it from being implemented without further judicial review.

In the wake of the Effingham County challenge, nearly 1,700 additional plaintiffs have signed onto the legal action, according to the South Central Reporter.