Alexandria, VA (May 11, 2026) – The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) filed the first lawsuit after the Louisiana v. Callais decision (United States Supreme Court case no. 24-109) against Governor J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Board of Elections challenging the Illinois Voting Rights Act of 2011.
Read the complaint here.
“States may not use race to allocate power,” PILF President and General Counsel J. Christian Adams said.
When Governor J.B. Pritzker signed Illinois’ new maps in 2021, he added, “the Illinois Voting Rights Act of 2011 ensures redistricting plans are crafted in a way that preserves clusters of minority voters if they are of size or cohesion to exert collective electoral power. The maps signed into law today meet those requirements to adequately preserve minority representation and reflect the diversity of our state.”
Governor Pritzker explicitly adopted racial purposes behind redistricting guidelines, namely sorting and allocating political power based on race.
Callais made explicit racial redistricting criteria unconstitutional. If a state law requires the allocation of power based on race, it violates the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Race may not be used to draw any legislative districts unless a specific violation of the Voting Rights Act is being remedied. This prohibition extends to school districts, state legislative districts, county council, Congressional districts or any line drawing exercise. The Illinois Voting Rights Act of 2011 mandates racial districts.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation represents Jeanne Ives: an Illinois candidate, former state legislator, sometimes statewide candidate, and citizen. Ives has seen Illinois redistricting up close. She has recognized how the process violates the United States Constitution.
PILF has won redistricting litigation across the United States, including the landmark Pettaway v. Galveston case that struck down coalition districts in Texas that allow race to be leveraged for partisan advantage. The en banc Fifth Circuit decision reversed decades of jurisprudence and held racial coalitions are not protected in redistricting. PILF is currently challenging the California Congressional maps under the Fifteenth Amendment as racially motivated draws. Louisiana v. Callais also provides a basis to invalidate the California Congressional maps.
The lawsuit was initially filed on May 8, 2026, before the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. Kaylan L. Phillips, J. Christian Adams, and Joseph Nixon of PILF represent Ms. Ives.
The case page is available here.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is the nation’s only public interest law firm dedicated wholly to election integrity. The Foundation exists to assist states and others to aid the cause of election integrity and fight against lawlessness in American elections. Drawing on numerous experts in the field, PILF seeks to protect the right to vote and preserve the Constitutional framework of American elections.
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