Reed v. Kusper

• Decision Date: 04 December 1992
• Docket Number: No. 70833,70833
• Parties: , 180 Ill.Dec. 685 Dorothy REED et al., Appellees, v. Stanley T. KUSPER, Jr., et al., Appellants.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 1198

607 N.E.2d 1198

154 Ill.2d 77, 180 Ill.Dec. 685

Dorothy REED et al., Appellees, v. Stanley T. KUSPER, Jr., et al., Appellants.

No. 70833.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Dec. 4, 1992.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 1, 1993.

Jack O'Malley, State's Atty., and Kenneth L. Gillis and Donald J. Mizerk, Asst. State's Attys., Chicago, for appellant Cook County Officers Electoral Board.

Gregory A. Adamski and Karen Conti, Adamski & Conti, Chicago, for appellees Dorothy Reed et al.

R. Eugene Pincham, Chicago, for appellees Barbara J. Norman et al.

Justice THOMAS J. MORAN delivered the opinion of the court:

This cause was remanded to this court from the United States Supreme Court (Norman v. Reed (1992), 502 U.S. 279, 112 S.Ct. 698, 116 L.Ed.2d 711) to address the following issue of first impression: whether the failure of a new political party to include judicial candidates on its slate invalidates the entire slate under article 10 of the Election Code (the Code) (Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 46, par. 1-1 et seq.); and if it does, whether this "complete slate requirement" of the Code is unconstitutional.

On August 6, 1990, Barbara J. Norman and others (the Party) filed petitions to place their names on the November 6, 1990, election ballot as candidates for office under the Harold Washington Party (Washington Party) name. The Washington Party candidates filed as a "new" political party in Cook County under article 10 of the Code (Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 46, par. 10-1 et seq.), even though the Washington Party was already an established party in the City of Chicago. The Washington Party fielded candidates for all nonjudicial, countywide offices, and for county commissioners to be elected at-large within the City of Chicago (city commissioners), county commissioners to be elected at-large from outside the City of Chicago (suburban commissioners) and commissioners of the Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

Dorothy Reed and others (the objectors) filed objections to the Washington Party candidates' nomination pursuant to section 10-8 of the Code, contending that the Washington Party petitions lacked the requisite number of signatures, and had failed to meet other requirements of section 10-2 of the Code (Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 46, par. 10-2).

The Cook County officers electoral board (the board) examined the objections and held that the Washington Party candidates were entitled to appear on the November ballot, with the exception of the candidates for the water district and the suburban-district commissioners. The board found that the Washington Party had failed to gather the necessary number of petition signatures from within those districts in support of those candidates.

The objectors appealed the board's decision to the circuit court of Cook County. That court, in an order filed on September 20, 1990, affirmed the board's decision in part and reversed it in part. It held that the failure of the suburban commissioners' candidacy and the failure to present judicial candidates resulted in a failure by the Washington Party to submit a "complete slate" of candidates as required by section 10-2 of the Code, and that therefore all Washington Party candidates were ineligible for the ballot.

This court then reviewed the circuit court's decision pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 302(b) (134 Ill.2d R. 302(b)), and entered an order on October 12, 1990, affirming the circuit court's decision on two separate grounds. First, this court held that the Washington Party candidates could not use the Washington Party party name because it was the name of an "established political party," in violation of section 10-5 of the Code. Second, this court held that the failure of the suburban commissioners' petitions resulted in the Washington Party's failure to file a complete slate of candidates and that, therefore, its nomination papers did not comply with section 10-2. As a result, this court found it unnecessary to address the remaining points raised on appeal, among them being whether the Washington Party's failure to slate judicial candidates was fatal to its candidates' petitions.

Subsequently, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari, staying our decision, and consequently allowing the election to proceed on November 6, 1990, in accordance with the decision of the board. On January 14, 1992, the Supreme Court filed an opinion upholding the decision of the board. The Court held that (1) even though the election was over, the controversy was not moot; (2) the court's interpretation of the party-name rule, section 10-5 of the Code, violated the first amendment right of political association; (3) disqualifying all of the Washington Party candidates with sufficient signatures because of the failure of their suburban component imposed an unconstitutional signature requirement on the Washington Party; and (4) the suburban commissioner candidates were properly disqualified for failing to gain the requisite number of signatures. However, the Court did not consider whether the failure to field a judicial slate of candidates provided an alternative ground for invalidating the Washington Party's entire slate, as was so held by the circuit court, because this question of Illinois law had not been reviewed by our court. (Norman, 502 U.S. at ----, 112 S.Ct. at 709, 116 L.Ed.2d at 727.) Instead, the Supreme Court remanded this question to our court.

Resolution of this issue requires an examination of section 10-2, which states:

"Any group of persons hereafter desiring to form a new political party throughout the State, or in any congressional, legislative or judicial district, or in any other district or in any political subdivision (other than a municipality) not entirely within a single county, shall file with the State Board of Elections a petition, as hereinafter provided; and any such group of persons hereafter desiring to form a new political party within any county shall file such petition with the county clerk; * * *. Any such petition for the formation of a new political party throughout the State, or in any such district or political subdivision, as the case may be, shall * * * at the time of filing contain a complete list of candidates of such party for all offices to be filled in the State, or such district or political subdivision as the case may be, at the next ensuing election then to be held * * *." (Emphasis added.) Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 46, par. 10-2.

Section 1-3 of the Code contains the following pertinent definitions:

"6. 'Political or governmental subdivision' means any unit of local government, or school district in which elections are or may be held. 'Political or governmental subdivision' also includes, for election purposes, Regional Boards of School Trustees, and Township Boards of School Trustees.

* * * * * *

14. 'District' means any area which votes as a unit for the election of any officer, other than the State or a unit of local government or school district, and includes, but is not limited to, legislative, congressional and judicial districts, judicial circuits, county board districts, municipal and sanitary district wards, school board districts, and precincts." (Emphasis added.) (Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 46, pars. 1-3(6), (14).)

Accordingly, since the Illinois Constitution defines units of local government as including counties (Ill. Const.1970, art. VII, § 1), then a county must logically be a political or governmental subdivision.

The Party argues that the determinative issue in this case is whether judges are considered to be county or State officers, and claims that if we find judges to be State officers, there is then no obligation to slate them in order to have a "complete list of candidates for such district or political subdivision." The Party offers five reasons for considering judges to be State officers rather than county officers. First, judicial candidates do not file their nominating petitions with the county clerk--they file with the State Board of Elections in Springfield. Second, judges are paid by the State from appropriations by the State legislature under the Illinois Constitution. Third, article VI, section 7, of the Illinois Constitution divides the State into judicial circuits of one or more counties. The existence of multiple-county circuits precludes judges from being county officers. Fourth, article VI, sections 12 and 16, of the State Constitution provides that supreme, appellate and circuit court judges shall be nominated at primary elections or by petition. Fifth, section 7-4 of the Code defines county office or county officer in part by giving a list of examples which does not include judges.

The Party also contends that even if a judicial slate were required, the circuit court lacked authority to remove all Washington Party candidates from the ballot. This is so, it insists, since in Anderson v. Schneider (1977), 67 Ill.2d 165, 8 Ill.Dec. 514, 365 N.E.2d 900, this court reversed the board's removal of an entire slate of "new" party candidates under section 10-2 of the Code when one of the candidates proved to be ineligible for office.

In addition to the points raised by the Party, the board (which also is a party to this action) makes some additional observations. First, it asserts that the judicial offices in question were not categorized for election purposes by means of the same political subdivision as the offices for which the Washington Party candidates were categorized. It contends that judges are elected by judicial districts (or circuits), whereas the offices for which the Washington Party slated candidates were to be elected by county. The board concludes that the applicable "district" for the judicial offices at issue was the Cook County judicial district, ¹ which only coincidentally happens to be geographically coterminous with the "political subdivision" of Cook County. In further support of its argument, the board cites to ...