(Springfield, IL)—In 2023, the State of Illinois enacted House Bill 3062, a law that effectively bars citizens from bringing constitutional challenges to state laws, rules, and orders in any circuit court in Illinois except those in Sangamon County and Cook County.
This law violates the Illinois Constitution in two ways: First, it denies residents of counties other than Sangamon and Cook the equal protection of the laws because they cannot bring constitutional claims in their local circuit courts. Second, it unlawfully strips 23 of the state’s 25 circuit courts of the subject-matter jurisdiction that the state constitution grants them.
That’s why in August 2023, the Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit challenging HB 3062 on behalf of three St. Clair County residents—Brad Weisenstein, Dawn Elliot, and Kenny Cook—in the Circuit Court of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit, St. Clair County, Illinois. That court dismissed the case, holding that plaintiffs lacked standing and could not succeed on the merits of their claims.
The Liberty Justice Center appealed to the Illinois Appellate Court, Fifth District and on November 10, 2025, the appellate court affirmed the lower court’s decision, again finding that plaintiffs lack standing to bring their constitutional challenge to HB 3062.
The Liberty Justice Center has now filed a petition for leave to appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court to stop the State from limiting where citizens can sue it when it violates the constitution.
HB 3062 was supposedly passed to prevent so-called “forum shopping,” where attorneys bring their cases in courts they view as more favorable. But by restricting which courts may hear constitutional challenges to state laws, rules, or orders, the State itself is engaging in forum shopping—in their own favor.
Equal protection of the law requires the State to govern impartially and prohibits it from drawing distinctions between individuals based solely on differences that are irrelevant to a legitimate governmental objective. HB 3062 places additional burdens on residents outside of Cook and Sangamon Counties when state laws, rules, or orders violate their constitutional rights.
Residents in those other counties must travel farther to bring constitutional claims and may have to hire attorneys in Sangamon or Cook Counties, even if they may prefer to work with an attorney in their own community. The law also forces these residents to present their constitutional claims to judges whom they did not have the opportunity to vote for or against.
“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 and Interim Director of Litigation at the Liberty Justice Center. “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.”
The Liberty Justice Center’s case files in Weisenstein v. Raoul can be found here.