CHICAGO - In case you missed it, Illinois House Republicans filed a lawsuit with the Illinois Supreme Court last week, challenging Democrats’ partisan legislative maps.

Despite an improved showing in 2024, Illinois voters are falling victim to extreme, partisan gerrymandering that is putting Illinois at risk. Illinois Democrats are working overdrive to protect their total power and stopping free, fair and equal elections. This lawsuit to the Illinois Supreme Court will stop Democrats’ corruption and ensure that the voice of all Illinois residents is heard.

Let’s be clear on exactly what this is - Democrats stripping Illinois voters of their constitutional rights for political gain.

See what the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board had to say:

In November, voters had no choice in 55 of the 118 House races. In 2020, the number of uncontested races was 47. An unacceptable figure in 2020 only got much worse four years later.

House Minority Leader Tony McCombie along with Reps. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria and Dan Ugaste, R-Geneva are championing a lawsuit filed in January that would throw out the gerrymandered map in favor of a fairer one. They’ve asked the Illinois Supreme Court to declare the map unconstitutional and appoint an independent official to draw a new map.

This is the latest in a string of such attempts over the past two decades, all of which the state’s high court declined to consider. But in a meeting with us, McCombie, Spain and Ugaste said there’s reason to be optimistic about a different outcome this time.

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We agree with McCombie and her colleagues: The Illinois Supreme Court should accept this case and determine whether, in fact, too many Illinois voters are being unconstitutionally deprived of their electoral franchise.

It’s unfortunate it’s come to this point. We were hopeful things would change when JB Pritzker said on the campaign trail ahead of his first term in office, “We should amend the (state) constitution to create an independent commission to draw legislative maps,” and vowed to veto any unfairly drawn map. Unfortunately, when the time came for action, Pritzker lined up with Democrats in the General Assembly.

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But this time really should be different; democracy in Illinois is badly undermined by such egregious gerrymandering.Read the full piece from the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board here.