Today, the Illinois Supreme Court announced that, effective January 1, 2022, it is lifting the pause on judicial redistricting in Public Act 102-11.  This law will change the judicial district boundaries, including the districts of the appellate court, for the first time since they were established in 1964.  The Court had paused the transition to give the courts sufficient time to plan and implement the significant changes it required.

Effective January 1, 2022, a notice of appeal initiating an appeal to the appellate court or a direct appeal to the Supreme Court under Rule 302(b) shall be transmitted by the clerk of the circuit court to the appropriate appellate district as established by the Public Act 102-11.  Additionally, a petition or application or motion under Rule 303(d), Rule 303A, Rule 306, Rule 307(d), Rule 308, Rule 335, Rule 604(c), or Rule 606(c) will be filed in the new appellate district established by the Act. These provisions will apply regardless of the date of the judgment appealed or sought to be
appealed.

Circuit courts will remain subject to the rule that, when a conflict arises among the districts, a circuit court is bound by the decisions of the appellate court of the district in which it sits.  In a redistricted circuit, the appropriate appellate district will be the district in which the circuit was located at the time that the circuit court action was initiated.

If a case is heard by one appellate court district on appeal and if a subsequent appeal in that case is heard by a new appellate district pursuant to the order, the new district will treat the decision of the prior district as the law of the case.  That the decision of the prior district applied the law of the prior
district that is contrary to the law of the new district will not be a basis for departing from the decision of the prior district.

The full text of the Court's order may be found here, and the full text of Public Act 102-11, which lists the counties included in each new appellate district, may be found here.