A federal judge has rejected Republican efforts to immediately invalidate a Democratic-drawn map of new legislative districts and their request that the state begin a process in which the GOP could gain control of the mapmaking process.

       But U.S. District Judge Robert Dow also rejected Democratic attempts to throw out the case. Dow warned Democrats that they should address concerns about undercounted minority populations when they convene a special legislative session to update their map with figures from the recently released U.S. census.

       Republicans and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund filed suit against the map dictating legislative boundaries aimed at ensuring Democratic control of the General Assembly through the decade.

       The challenges were based on the Democrats’ use of estimated population counts from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to draw the map. Democrats had faced a June 30 state constitutional deadline to enact a new map or risk a process that would have given Republicans a 50-50 chance to take control of the map.

       The Illinois Senate at the state Capitol building in 2019. Democratic legislative leaders have ordered the General Assembly to return to special session on Tuesday to modify their maps now that census data is available. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

       Democrats used the less-detailed survey data because of delays in the release of the more detailed census counts due to the pandemic and unsuccessful legal challenges to the Trump administration’s efforts to seek citizenship information. Normally released in April, the census numbers were announced Aug. 12 — far past the June 30 state mapping deadline.

       Democratic lawmakers approved the new boundaries at the end of May and Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the measure in early June. Legal challenges were filed shortly after.

       But Democratic legislative leaders have ordered the General Assembly to return to special session on Tuesday to modify their maps now that census data is available. The survey results overstated Illinois’ population decline and Republicans said the map resulted in a near 30% deviation from its most populous House district to its least populous district — with a 10% deviation the standard of the U.S. Supreme Court.

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       In his ruling Monday, Dow allowed the legal challenge to continue before a three-judge federal panel past Sept. 1, a day after lawmakers are supposed to return to Springfield to enact Democrats’ post-census fixes to the map.

       “The panel,” Dow wrote, also urges “the General Assembly to take into account the views of the plaintiffs in crafting any amended plan with the objective of presenting for the court’s consideration a plan that satisfies all constitutional and statutory obligations, not just those raised in the existing pleadings and motions.

       Gov. J.B. Pritzker, at a bill-signing event on July 27, 2021, said it was “proper” for the legislature to take another look at the map with the release of more detailed census counts but did not address whether he believed changes were needed in the plan he signed into law. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

       “To the extent that an amended plan still raises viable legal challenges, the parties should expect to update their pleadings, motions, and expert work … on a highly compressed schedule given the need for an expeditious conclusion to this litigation to accommodate the 2022 election calendar,” Dow wrote.

       Republicans have maintained there is no provision for Democrats in the legislature to adopt an amended map and that post-June 30 provisions of the state constitution should kick in. That requires creation of a bipartisan mapmaking commission, which invariably deadlocks, and forces a drawing to determine a ninth partisan tiebreaking member to decide which party controls the map.

       Democrats have argued there is nothing in law that prevents the adoption of a new map after having met the original constitutional goal of enacting one before June 30. They have scheduled at least seven public hearings on a new map leading up to the Tuesday special session.

       Since Democrats control both chambers of the legislature and the governor’s office, no Republican input was needed for the new map. That was the case a decade ago, as well.

       At an unrelated news conference Tuesday, Pritzker said it was “proper” for the legislature to take another look at the map with the release of more detailed census counts but did not address whether he believed changes were needed in the plan he signed into law.

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       “They will look. They will follow the law. If they don’t, I won’t be supporting their redistricting map,” Pritzker said, adding that he set out as an early goal boundary lines that “make sure that we’re recognizing the diversity of our state.”

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