On January 24, the Illinois Green Party filed its opening brief in the Seventh Circuit in Tripp v Scholz, 16-3469. The original case had been filed in 2014 and challenged the difficult petition rules for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, for state legislature. The party argues that the combination of the high number of signatures (5% of the last vote cast), the need to have the petitions notarized, the 90-day period for circulating the petition, and the gerrymandered districts, together makes it virtually impossible for anyone to ever complete such petitions, especially in the less densely-populated parts of the state.

The U.S. District Court for the southern district had upheld the law in August 2016.