Opinion ID: 2236288
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Cook County Provisions

Text: As noted above, sections 5, 10, 15, and 20 of the Act create three distinct districts in Cook County for the express purpose of electing supreme court justices. 705 ILCS 21/5, 10, 15, 20 (West 1996). Defendants concede, however, that these provisions run afoul of article VI, section 2, of our state constitution, as previously interpreted by this court. See People ex rel. Chicago Bar Ass'n v. State Board of Elections, 136 Ill.2d 513, 532, 146 Ill.Dec. 126, 558 N.E.2d 89 (1990). In State Board of Elections, this court unanimously held that legislation which subdivided Cook County for the purpose of electing appellate judges was unconstitutional. In so holding, this court noted that prior to the 1962 amendments to the 1870 Constitution, the supreme and appellate courts were treated differently with regard to the way in which judges were elected to each respective court. State Board of Elections, 136 Ill.2d at 530, 146 Ill.Dec. 126, 558 N.E.2d 89. The 1962 amendment to the judicial article, however, wrought extensive changes to the judiciary and to the way in which appellate court judges were elected. One of the changes affected the manner in which supreme and appellate court judges were electedboth courts were to share the same five judicial boundaries. State Board of Elections, 136 Ill.2d at 530, 146 Ill.Dec. 126, 558 N.E.2d 89. The ratification of the 1970 Constitution did not alter any of the changes made in 1962. Indeed, this court noted that during the constitutional convention in 1970, repeated emphasis was placed on the fact that the judicial districts and supreme court organization provisions remained unchanged from the 1962 constitutional amendments. State Board of Elections, 136 Ill.2d at 530, 146 Ill.Dec. 126, 558 N.E.2d 89. Accordingly, we explained that taken as a whole, the presentation of the Committee of the Judiciary and the resulting dialogue on the convention floor indicate that Cook County was to remain a single, undivided district for the selection of both supreme and appellate judges. For this reason, we concluded that any legislation which subdivided Cook County for purposes of electing appellate court judges could not stand. State Board of Elections, 136 Ill.2d at 523, 146 Ill.Dec. 126, 558 N.E.2d 89. Although defendants note that the legislation at issue in this case concerns the election of judges to the supreme court from Cook County, as opposed to appellate court judges, they concede that this court's analysis in State Board of Elections would apply equally to the election of supreme court judges. Given defendants' concession, we see no reason to reexamine the validity of our previous holding with regard to the subdivision of Cook County for the purpose of electing supreme court justices. Accordingly, we affirm the circuit court's finding that the provisions of the Act which impact Cook County are invalid.