Republicans have asked the Illinois Supreme Court to throw out the new map of state legislative districts.
The move comes one month before the state's March 20th primary election. Republicans say the state's new House and Senate districts are politically unfair. new map is required after each 10-year census. The Democratic legislature adopted it last spring and Governor Pat Quinn signed it. Republicans say they were excluded from the process. They say the districts are not compact -- as required by the Illinois Constitution -- and they "dilute the votes of Republicans" in order to help Democrats.
They're asking the Illinois Supreme Court to give them a crack at redrawing the maps. Last year, a federal court rejected similar arguments. That makes last week's filing with the Illinois Supreme Court something of a Hail Mary pass. Political Scientist Kent Redfield with the University of Illinois Springfield says the chances of success at this point, are reallyl imited.
Republicans declined to speak on tape. In a statement they say if the court doesn't want to interrupt the 2012 election, it could reopen the process in time for 2014.
