Illinois Voting Rights Act Challenge
Ives v. Pritzker et al
An anti-voting lawsuit seeking to declare the Illinois Voting Rights Act unconstitutional in light of the U.S. Supreme Court gutting Section 2 of the U.S. Voting Rights Act.
Background
An Illinois voter filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the Illinois Voting Rights Act (IL VRA) as “intentionally distorting district boundaries along racial lines to draw crossover districts, coalition districts, or influence districts” in violation of the Fifteenth Amendment and the U.S. Voting Rights Act (VRA). Plaintiff alleges that the IL VRA’s mandates to draw crossover, coalition, and influence districts are unconstitutional racial gerrymanders. Additionally, plaintiff asserts that the legislature and Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) relied on “racial aims” to draw the 2021 congressional map. The lawsuit seek to declare the IL VRA unconstitutional.
Why It Matters
This is the first challenge to the constitutionality of a state’s voting rights act in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Callais that gutted Section 2 of the VRA. The lawsuit asserts that “state action for which any racially discriminatory intent or racial means are used” is racially discriminatory in violation of the Fifteenth Amendment. “The effect of the Illinois Voting Rights Act was to intentionally give greater value to the votes of some racial groups, thereby discounting the value of votes of those groups not benefited,” the lawsuit alleges.
Latest Updates
- May 8, 2026: Plaintiff filed her complaint.