U.S. Supreme Court Halts Drive for Even More Partisan Gerrymandering in Illinois
“Gerrymandering is wrong. It should be permanently ended in every place in the country,” Ryan Spain has said repeatedly about the practice of allowing politicians to pick their voters, often behind closed doors.
In April, Illinois House Democrats drove to place a constitutional amendment on the November 2026 ballot regarding Illinois legislative maps. The language of House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 28 would have explicitly prioritized race over contiguousness and compactness in legislative redistricting.
The proposed amendment had come under strong attack for its violation of the principle that legislative districts ought to be contiguous and compact. Ideally, a legislative district should not be shaped like a snake with a safely entrenched incumbent living at one end of it.
Legislators in Springfield halted the plan to further gerrymander Illinois’ maps following a US Supreme Court decision in early May. The plan supported by Illinois’ Democratic Majority would have enshrined partisan power in our state’s Constitution and allowed rigged mapmaking to continue. Rep. Spain is adamant in continuing to fight for fair maps.