A legal battle determining where Illinois citizens are allowed to sue their government is headed for the state’s highest court. The Liberty Justice Center filed a petition for leave to appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court this week, seeking to overturn a law that critics say forces residents to travel hundreds of miles just to defend their constitutional rights.
At the center of the dispute is House Bill 3062, a law enacted in 2023 that fundamentally changed the playing field for constitutional challenges in Illinois. Under the statute, any lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of state laws, rules, or orders must be filed in either Sangamon County or Cook County.
This effectively bars residents from filing such suits in 23 of the state’s 25 judicial circuits.
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The Liberty Justice Center, representing three residents from St. Clair County—Brad Weisenstein, Dawn Elliot, and Kenny Cook—argues the law violates the state constitution by stripping local courts of their jurisdiction and denying equal protection to residents outside the favored counties.
“Illinois is cherry-picking the judicial process by deciding which judges can and cannot hear cases challenging the state’s laws as unconstitutional,” said Jeffrey Schwab, Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center.
The legal challenge, Weisenstein v. Raoul, faces a steep uphill climb. In August 2023, the Circuit Court of St. Clair County dismissed the case, ruling that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue. That decision was upheld on Nov. 10, 2025, by the Illinois Appellate Court, Fifth District, which also found the plaintiffs could not prove they had standing to bring the claim.
Proponents of HB 3062 have argued the measure is necessary to prevent “forum shopping,” a practice where attorneys deliberately file cases in specific jurisdictions they believe will be sympathetic to their arguments. By consolidating constitutional challenges in Springfield (the state capital) and Chicago, the state aims to centralize proceedings involving statewide policy.
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However, opponents argue the state is engaging in its own form of forum shopping by funneling all litigation into venues it prefers.
The petition to the Supreme Court contends that the law imposes an undue burden on residents in rural or distant counties, forcing them to incur travel costs and hire attorneys in markets far from their homes. Furthermore, the plaintiffs argue the law forces citizens to present their cases before judges they never had the opportunity to vote for or against.
“Illinoisans must be treated equally, allowing every person to bring constitutional challenges against the State in their local courts, rather than favoring residents in some counties over others,” Schwab said.
The Illinois Supreme Court will now decide whether to hear the appeal.
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