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60-623: The court has limited original jurisdiction and has final appellate jurisdiction in Illinois state law matters . If its decision also involves a federal question, it may be further appealed to the United States Supreme Court . It has jurisdiction in cases where the constitutionality of laws has been called into question, and discretionary jurisdiction from the Illinois Appellate Court . Until 2011, when Illinois abolished

120-412: A 10-year term to hold the seat. The court elects the chief justice from among its members for a three-year term. Illinois' first constitution (in effect from 1841 until 1848) had supreme court justices appointed by the state legislature. The framers of the first state constitution had opted for the legislature to have this authority rather than the governor out of concerns of "executive tyranny". However,

180-471: A 10-year term. At the end of the initial term, they may run in a ( non-partisan ) retention election where they must receive 60% of the vote to be retained for continuing terms of ten years. When a vacancy occurs mid-term, the Supreme Court itself appoints a new justice. The appointed justice must run in the next partisan election (including primaries ) that is more than 60 days from their appointment for

240-593: A State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make. United States Constitution Article III, §3, cl. 2 In the federal court system and those of most U.S. states , there are several types of trial courts. That is, there are several specialized courts with original jurisdiction over specific types of matters, and then

300-535: A candidate can often be elected with the support of only a minority of votes, leaving the majority of votes cast wasted, and thus a moderate winning vote of say just 34 percent repeated in several swing seats can be enough to create a landslide increase in seats won by a government. The district-by-district basis of ' First past the post voting ' elections means that parties will usually categorise and target various districts by whether they are likely to be held with ease, or winnable by extra campaigning, or written off as

360-619: A court with original jurisdiction over anything not reserved to more specialized courts. Not all "trial courts" exclusively exercise original jurisdiction. Indeed, in both the federal and most state court systems, the trial courts of " general jurisdiction " hear appeals from trial courts of limited original jurisdiction; many states call these courts " superior courts " for this reason. For example, United States district courts hear appeals from their bankruptcy courts (which operate as quasi-independent units of district courts but are constitutionally separate Article I tribunals ). Similarly,

420-411: A foregone loss hardly worth fighting for. A safe seat is one that is regarded as very unlikely to be won by a rival politician based on the constituency 's past voting record or polling results. Conversely, a marginal seat or swing seat is one that could easily swing either way, and may even have changed hands frequently in recent decades - the party that currently holds it may have only won it by

480-575: A higher court has the power to review a lower court's decision. In India , the Supreme Court has original, appellate and advisory jurisdiction. Its exclusive original jurisdiction extends to all cases between the Government of India and the States of India or between Government of India and states on one side and one or more states on the other side or cases between different states. Original jurisdiction

540-423: A larger state (a country , administrative region , or other polity ) created to provide its population with representation in the larger state's legislature . That body, or the state's constitution or a body established for that purpose, determines each district's boundaries and whether each will be represented by a single member or multiple members. Generally, only voters ( constituents ) who reside within

600-446: A low effective number of parties . Malta with only two major parties is a stark example of divergence from Duverger's rule. In a system where the intent is to avoid the waste of votes, a set proportion of votes, as a minimum, assures the election of a candidate. This is set as the inverse of the district magnitude plus one, plus one, the Droop quota . Droop is the mathematical threshold that

660-562: A municipality. However, in the Republic of Ireland , voting districts are called local electoral areas . District magnitude is a term invented by the American political scientist Douglas W. Rae in his 1967 dissertation The Political Consequences of Electoral Laws . It refers to the number of seats assigned to each district, and thus helping determine the number of seats to be filled in any election. Staggered terms are sometimes used to reduce

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720-415: A new 6–3 majority. Illinois' second constitution (in effect from 1848 until 1870) replaced the appointment of judges by the legislature with the direct election of judges. At the constitutional convention of 1847, delegates decided to remove the legislature's power to appoint judges by moving to direct election of judges, in part out of a view that this strengthened the separation of powers . Additionally,

780-487: A particular group has a slight majority, for instance, gerrymandering politicians can obtain 2/3 of that district's seats. Similarly, by making four-member districts in regions where the same group has slightly less than a majority, gerrymandering politicians can still secure exactly half of the seats. However, any possible gerrymandering that theoretically could occur would be much less effective because minority groups can still elect at least one representative if they make up

840-428: A significant percentage of the population (e.g. 20–25%), compared to single-member districts where 40–49% of the voters can be essentially shut out from any representation. Sometimes, particularly under non-proportional or winner-takes-all voting systems, elections can be prone to landslide victories . As the result in each district is not related to votes cast elsewhere and may not reflect a party's national popularity,

900-880: A significant presence in an area. Many assemblies allow free postage (through franking privilege or prepaid envelopes) from a representative to a constituent, and often free telecommunications. Caseworkers may be employed by representatives to assist constituents with problems. Members of the U.S. Congress (both Representatives and Senators) working in Washington, D.C., have a governmentally staffed district office to aid in constituent services. Many state legislatures have followed suit. Likewise, British MPs use their Parliamentary staffing allowance to appoint staff for constituency casework. Client politics and pork barrel politics are associated with constituency work. In some elected assemblies, some or all constituencies may group voters based on some criterion other than, or in addition to,

960-517: A slender margin and a party that wants to win it may be able to take it away from its present holder with little effort. In United Kingdom general elections and United States presidential and congressional elections, the voting in a relatively small number of swing seats usually determines the outcome of the entire election. Parties aspire to hold as many safe seats as possible, and high-level politicians, such as prime ministers, prefer to stand in safe seats. In large multi-party systems like India ,

1020-522: A small shift in election results, sometimes caused by swing votes, can lead to no party taking a majority of seats, causing a hung assembly . This may arise from a significant number of seats going to smaller regional parties instead of the larger national parties which are the main competitors at the national or state level, as was the situation in the Lok Sabha (Lower house of the Parliament of India ) during

1080-673: Is allowed to affect apportionment, with rural areas with sparse populations allocated more seats per elector: for example in Iceland, the Falkland Islands, Scottish islands, and (partly) in US Senate elections. Gerrymandering is the manipulation of electoral district boundaries for political gain. By creating a few "forfeit" districts where opposing candidates win overwhelmingly, gerrymandering politicians can manufacture more, but narrower, wins for themselves and their party. Gerrymandering relies on

1140-537: Is minimal (exactly 1) in plurality voting in single-member districts ( First-past-the-post voting used in most cases). As well, where multi-member districts are used, threshold de facto stays high if seats are filled by general ticket or other pro-landslide party block system (rarely used nationwide nowadays). In such situations each voter has one vote. District magnitude is larger than 1 where multiple members are elected - plural districts ), and under plurality block voting (where voter may cast as many votes as

1200-404: Is not synonymous with proportional representation. The use of "general ticket voting" prevents the multiple-member representation of the district from being mixed and balanced. Where list PR is used in the district, a closed list PR method gives the party machine, not the voters, the power to arrange the candidates on the party list. In this case, a large district magnitude helps minorities only if

1260-417: Is one of only six that do so through partisan elections, and it is the only state Illinois is currently the only U.S. state that ties its supreme court judgeships to geographic divisions (electoral districts). In order to take office, judges are required to be U.S. citizens, members of the state bar , and resident in the district from which they are elected or appointed. Justices run in a general election for

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1320-474: Is related to cases directly brought to the Supreme Court. Cases that require the interpretation of the constitution or cases relating to the denial of fundamental rights are heard in the Supreme Court. In case there is a dispute between two or more states or between the union and the states, the Supreme Court decides such cases. In addition, Article 131 of the Constitution of India grants original jurisdiction to

1380-425: Is the mathematical minimum whereby no more will be elected than there are seats to be filled. It ensures election in contests where all votes are used to elect someone. (Probabilistic threshold should include the likely number of votes wasted to minor lists). For instance, a 10%-polling party will not win a seat in a 5-member district (Droop quota of 1/6=16.67%) but will do so in a 10-member district as its 10 percent of

1440-648: The Cantonal Council of Zürich are reapportioned in every election based on the number of votes cast in each district , which is only made possible by use of multi-member districts, and the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina , by contrast, is apportioned without regard to population; the three major ethnic groups – Bosniaks , Serbs , and Croats – each get exactly five members. Malapportionment occurs when voters are under- or over-represented due to variation in district population. In some places, geographical area

1500-672: The Michael Bilandic Building in Chicago). The justices travel to Springfield to hear oral arguments and deliberate. Accordingly, the Illinois Supreme courthouse building includes apartments for the justices' use while in Springfield. Original jurisdiction In common law legal systems, original jurisdiction of a court is the power to hear a case for the first time, as opposed to appellate jurisdiction , when

1560-706: The U.S. Supreme Court has original jurisdiction concurrently with lower courts. The original jurisdiction of the U.S. Supreme Court is governed by Article III, Section 2 of the United States Constitution and Title 28 of the United States Code, section 1251 . Most commonly, original jurisdiction cases involve suits between states as parties, usually over territorial or water rights disputes. The United States Constitution defines Original Jurisdiction thus: In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which

1620-439: The wasted-vote effect , effectively concentrating wasted votes among opponents while minimizing wasted votes among supporters. Consequently, gerrymandering is typically done under voting systems using single-member districts, which have more wasted votes. While much more difficult, gerrymandering can also be done under proportional-voting systems when districts elect very few seats. By making three-member districts in regions where

1680-452: The 1970 state constitution), the court has seven justices representing the state's four appellate districts. Cook County (the most populace county) is contiguous with the boundary of the 1st district, which for supreme court is a multi-member district with three justices. The remaining three districts are single-member districts . Illinois is one of 21 U.S. states that holds popular elections of its supreme court justices. Of those states, it

1740-404: The 1990s. Elected representatives may spend much of the time serving the needs or demands of individual constituents , meaning either voters or residents of their district. This is more common in assemblies with many single-member or small districts than those with fewer, larger districts. In a looser sense, corporations and other such organizations can be referred to as constituents, if they have

1800-680: The Constitution in respect of any judgement, decree or final order of a High Court in both civil and criminal cases, involving substantial questions of law as to the interpretation of the Indian Constitution. The Supreme Court has special advisory jurisdiction in matters that may specifically be referred to by the president of India under Article 143 of the Indian Constitution. In the United States, courts having original jurisdiction are referred to as trial courts . In certain types of cases,

1860-630: The Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar. For publication of its decisions and rulings, the official law report of the Illinois Supreme Court is Illinois Reports . The Supreme Court of Illinois has a system unique among state supreme courts in which it elects its justices from electoral districts through partisan elections. Under the current structuring of the court (outlined in Article VI of

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1920-470: The Illinois Constitution's requirement that the four districts outside the 1st District (Cook County) have "substantially equal population". As of 2018 Census estimates, the populations of the old districts before the 2021 redistricting were: 1st District: 5,194,000; 2nd District: 3,189,000; 3rd District: 1,805,000; 4th District 1,320,000; 5th District: 1,321,000. In comparison, the 2020 Census reports

1980-515: The Law Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey hears appeals from Pittsburgh have unique systems) and from certain agencies of local (e.g., zoning board ) and state governments (e.g., Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board ). Electoral district An electoral ( congressional , legislative , etc.) district , sometimes called a constituency , riding , or ward , is a subdivision of

2040-468: The Supreme Court on all cases involving the enforcement of fundamental rights of citizens. It is empowered to issue directions, orders or writs, including writs like habeas corpus , mandamus , prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari to enforce them. The appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court can be invoked by a certificate granted by the High Court concerned under Article 132(1), 133(1) or 134 of

2100-455: The citizens grew displeased with this solution after legislative Democrats engaged in a court packing scheme in 1841. This scheme was spearheaded by Stephen Douglas , and saw Democrats leverage their government trifecta to pass legislation that expanded the court from four to nine justices. The court had (before this expansion) had a 3–1 Whig -aligned majority of justices, and the court-packing scheme allowed Democratic-aligned judges to form

2160-471: The court, incumbent judges seeking re-election would be subjected to retention elections rather than competitive partisan elections. In December 1970 , alongside the vote on whether to adopt the current (fourth) state constitution, voters were given a referendum on whether (if adopted) the constitution should retain the popular election of judges, or instead provide for the appointment judges through Missouri Plan -style "merit selection". Voters opted to retain

2220-473: The death penalty, it had mandatory jurisdiction in capital cases. Along with the state legislature, the court promulgates rules for all state courts . Also, its members have the authority to elevate trial judges to the appellate court on a temporary basis. The court administers professional discipline through the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Committee and it governs initial licensing through

2280-512: The direct election of judges was a popular principal of the Jacksonian democracy movement that was popular at the time. The judiciary established by the 1848 constitution had three justices each elected strong single-member electoral districts . The constitution permitted the option for the state legislature to eliminate the districts, and instead hold at-large elections of justices. However, due to Chicago's exponential population growth, members of

2340-414: The district are permitted to vote in an election held there. District representatives may be elected by a first-past-the-post system, a proportional representative system, or another voting method . They may be selected by a direct election under universal suffrage , an indirect election , or another form of suffrage . The names for electoral districts vary across countries and, occasionally, for

2400-1027: The electorate or where relatively few members overall are elected, even if the election is held at-large. District magnitude may be set at an equal number of seats in each district. Examples include: all districts of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected 6 members (5 members since 2017); all those of the Parliament of Malta send 5 MPs; Chile, between 1989 and 2013, used a method called binomial voting , which assigned 2 MPs to each district. In many cases, however, multi-member constituencies correspond to already existing jurisdictions (regions, districts, wards, cities, counties, states or provinces), which creates differences in district magnitude from district to district: The concept of district magnitude helps explains why Duverger's speculated correlation between proportional representation and party system fragmentation has many counter-examples, as PR methods combined with small-sized multi-member constituencies may produce

2460-405: The first district has remained entirely the same. While the justices of many states' supreme courts are expected to relocate to the state capital for the duration of their terms of office, the justices of the Illinois Supreme Court continue to reside in their home constituencies and have chambers in their respective appellate districts (for example, the three First District justices are chambered in

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2520-459: The legislature. When referring to a particular legislative constituency, it is simply referred to as "Kṣetra" along with the name of the legislature, in Hindi (e.g. 'Lok Sabha Kshetra' for a Lok Sabha constituency). Electoral districts for buli municipal or other local bodies are called "wards". Local electoral districts are sometimes called wards , a term also used for administrative subdivisions of

2580-521: The location they live. Examples include: Not all democratic political systems use separate districts or other electoral subdivisions to conduct elections. Israel , for instance, conducts parliamentary elections as a single district. The 26 electoral districts in Italy and the 20 in the Netherlands have a role in the actual election, but no role whatsoever in the division of the seats. Ukraine elected half of

2640-447: The make-up of the district map, made easier by a multitude of micro-small districts. A higher magnitude means less wasted votes, and less room for such maneuvers. As well, a fair voting system in the district contests also means that gerrymandering is ineffective because each party gets their fair share of seats however districts are drawn, at least theoretically. Multiple-member contests sometimes use plurality block voting , which allows

2700-541: The number of representatives allotted to each. Israel and the Netherlands are among the few countries that avoid the need for apportionment entirely by electing legislators at-large . Apportionment is generally done on the basis of population . Seats in the United States House of Representatives , for instance, are reapportioned to individual states every 10 years following a census, with some states that have grown in population gaining seats. By contrast, seats in

2760-486: The number of seats to be filled), proportional representation or single transferable vote elections (where the voter casts just one vote). In STV elections DM normally range from 2 to 10 members in a district. But 21 are elected in a single contest conducted through STV in New South Wales (Australia). In list PR systems DM may exceed 100. District magnitude is maximized where: DM is moderate where districts break up

2820-583: The number of seats up for election at any one time, when district magnitude is more than one. The number of seats up for election varies the ease or difficulty to be elected, as the threshold de facto decreases in proportion as the number of seats being filled increases, unless a pro-landslide voting system is used such as general ticket voting. The concept of magnitude explains Duverger's observation that single-winner contests tend to produce two-party systems , and proportional representation (PR) methods tend to produce multi-party systems . District magnitude

2880-518: The office being elected. The term constituency is commonly used to refer to an electoral district, especially in British English , but it can also refer to the body of eligible voters or all the residents of the represented area or only those who voted for a certain candidate. The terms (election) precinct and election district are more common in American English . In Canadian English ,

2940-504: The party machine of any party chooses to include them. In a multi-member district where general ticket voting is not used, there is a natural impetus for a party to open itself to minority voters, if they have enough numbers to be significant, due to the competitive environment produced by the electoral system. Apportionment is the process of allocating a number of representatives to different regions, such as states or provinces. Apportionment changes are often accompanied by redistricting ,

3000-470: The popular election of judges. In 2021 (ahead of the 2022 Illinois judicial elections ), Illinois redrew its judicial districts, the first time it had done so since 1964. The Illinois Supreme Court is separated into 5 districts, with one Justice elected from each except the 1st, which elects three Justices. The districts are separated along county lines . These districts were first established in 1963 and had not been updated in nearly sixty years, despite

3060-401: The populations of the current districts as: 1st District: 5,275,541; 2nd District: 1,773,382; 3rd District: 1,959,246; 4th District 2,086,825; 5th District: 1,717,514. The state legislature redrew districts in 2021 to take effect in the 2022 elections, Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker signed these changes into law. Below are the counties per district based on the 2021 redistricting . Only

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3120-461: The redrawing of electoral district boundaries to accommodate the new number of representatives. This redrawing is necessary under single-member district systems, as each new representative requires their own district. Multi-member systems, however, vary depending on other rules. Ireland, for example, redraws its electoral districts after every census while Belgium uses its existing administrative boundaries for electoral districts and instead modifies

3180-442: The representation of minorities. John Stuart Mill had endorsed proportional representation (PR) and STV in the mid-19th century precisely to respond to this shortcoming. With lower district magnitudes, the only way to include demographic minorities scattered across the country is to force parties to include them: Large district magnitudes increase the chance for diverse walks of life and minority groups to be elected. However, it

3240-437: The rules permit voters not to rank all the candidates or prevent them from ranking all the candidates, some votes are declared exhausted. Thus it is common for one or two members in a district to be elected without attaining Droop. Larger district magnitudes means larger districts, so annihilate the need and practice of gerrymandering , Gerrymandering is the practice of partisan redistricting by means of creating imbalances in

3300-463: The single largest group to take all the district seats. Each voter having just one vote in a multi-member district, Single voting, a component of most party-list proportional representation methods as well as single non-transferable vote and single transferable vote , prevents such a landslide. High district magnitude is a major factor in the inclusion of minorities . Plurality (and other elections with lower district magnitudes) are known to limit

3360-465: The state legislature preferred to retain geographic districts viewing it as preserving the voting power of downstate Illinois in the election of Supreme Court justices. One of the main reasons that a constitutional convention was called in 1870 was to reorganize the state's judiciary. The state's resulting third constitution (which went into effect in 1870) expanded the court to seven members, each elected from single-member electoral districts. However this

3420-466: The term electorate generally refers specifically to the body of voters. In India , electoral districts are referred to as " Nirvācan Kṣetra " ( Hindi : निर्वाचन क्षेत्र ) in Hindi , which can be translated to English as "electoral area" though the official English translation for the term is "constituency". The term "Nirvācan Kṣetra" is used while referring to an electoral district in general irrespective of

3480-463: The term is used, especially officially, but is also colloquially and more commonly known as a riding or constituency . In some parts of Canada, constituency is used for provincial districts and riding for federal districts. In colloquial Canadian French , they are called comtés ("counties"), while circonscriptions comtés is the legal term. In Australia and New Zealand , Electoral districts are called electorates , however elsewhere

3540-513: The vote exceeds the Droop quota in such a district (1/11=9%). In systems where a noticeable number of votes are wasted, such as Single non-transferable voting or Instant-runoff voting where transferable votes are used but voters are prohibited from ranking all candidates, you will see candidates win with less than Droop. STV is intended to avoid waste of votes by the use of transferable votes but even in STV, if

3600-485: Was changed by the Illinois Judicial Amendment , which was ratified by the voters of Illinois in 1962, and went into effect in 1964. This amendment instead divided the seven justices between five districts: one three-member district contiguous with Cook County and four single-member districts. While partisan elections were retained by the 1962 amendment, this was augmented so that after their initial election to

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