705 ILCS 35/2f

(705 ILCS 35/2f) (from Ch. 37, par. 72.2f)

Sec. 2f. (a) Until December 2, 2024, the Circuit of Cook County shall be divided into 15 units to be known as subcircuits. On and after December 2, 2024, the Circuit of Cook County is divided into 20 subcircuits as drawn by the General Assembly. The subcircuits shall be compact, contiguous, and substantially equal in population. Beginning in 2031, the General Assembly shall, in the year following each federal decennial census, redraw the boundaries of the subcircuits to reflect the results of the most recent federal decennial census.

In accordance with subsection (d), a resident judgeship assigned to a subcircuit shall continue to be assigned to that subcircuit. Any vacancy in a resident judgeship existing on or occurring after the effective date of a law redrawing the boundaries of the subcircuits shall be filled by a resident of the redrawn subcircuit.

(b) The 165 resident judges to be elected from the Circuit of Cook County shall be determined under paragraph (4) of subsection (a) of Section 2 of the Judicial Vacancies Act.

(c) Until December 2, 2024, the Supreme Court shall allot (i) the additional resident judgeships provided by paragraph (4) of subsection (a) of Section 2 of the Judicial Vacancies Act and (ii) all vacancies in resident judgeships existing on or occurring on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1990, with respect to the other resident judgeships of the Circuit of Cook County, for election from the various subcircuits until there are 11 resident judges to be elected from each of the 15 subcircuits (for a total of 165). A resident judgeship authorized before the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1990 that became vacant and was filled by appointment by the Supreme Court before that effective date shall be filled by election at the general election in November of 1992 from the unit of the Circuit of Cook County within Chicago or the unit of that Circuit outside Chicago, as the case may be, in which the vacancy occurred.

(d) As soon as practicable after the subcircuits are created by law, the Supreme Court shall determine by lot a numerical order for the 15 subcircuits. That numerical order shall be the basis for the order in which resident judgeships are assigned to the subcircuits. After the first round of assignments, the second and all later rounds shall be based on the same numerical order. Once a resident judgeship is assigned to a subcircuit, it shall continue to be assigned to that subcircuit for all purposes.

(d-5) All vacancies in circuit judgeships in the Circuit of Cook County, which are not allotted to Judicial Subcircuits 1 through 15 pursuant to subsection (c) of this Section, existing on or occurring on or after June 1, 2022 shall be allotted in numerical order to Judicial Subcircuits 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 until there are 11 resident judges to be elected from each of those subcircuits (for a total of 55).

(e) A resident judge elected from a subcircuit shall continue to reside in that subcircuit as long as he or she holds that office. A resident judge elected from a subcircuit after January 1, 2008, must retain residency as a registered voter in the subcircuit to run for retention from the circuit at large thereafter.

(Source: P.A. 101-477, eff. 6-1-20; 102-668, eff. 11-15-21; 102-693, eff. 1-7-22.)