Court Opinion

ID: 9521695
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:10:04.268024+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:50:06.727448
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE SIMON, concurring in the decision: I concur in the result, but do not understand the need, in deciding this case, to review the requirements of People ex rel. Scott v. Grivetti (1971), 50 Ill. 2d 156, relating to permissible population variances, as the majority has done. Whether Grivetti permits variances of more than 1% consistently with the “one-man, one-vote” principle is not before us. No one raises that issue in this proceeding. No one contends or suggests that population variance in any legislative or representative district established by the map presented in this case is more than 1%. In fact all parties to this action have represented to us that all population variances in the map are less than 1%. The redrawn representative districts in the 45th Legislative District which we are approving by this decision present population variances of one-tenth of 1% in the 89th and three-tenths of 1% in the case of the 90th, variances which satisfy the most restrictive interpretation of Grivetti. In this setting, I see no need for the court’s gratuitous advice that a greater variance would not offend Grivetti. The suggestion is clearly dictum. The only value it has is as a possible aid to those given responsibility for legislative redistricting in future decennials. But, I trust they will be capable of grappling with the difficult problem of equal representation without our premature advice given without awareness of the circumstances which will confront the redistricters 10 years from now. For that reason, I think we should refrain from offering such guidance. Besides, the court belies its own suggestion that a variance of more than 1% is acceptable by choosing alternative No. 2 over alternative No. 1 in redistricting the 89th and 90th Representative Districts, giving as its reason that the former “reflects the closer approximation to equality of population.” (88 Ill. 2d at 108.) This convinces me that even if the majority believes variances of more than 1% are acceptable, it finds variances of less than 1% preferable.