Another day, another lawsuit challenging the new legislative maps in Illinois.

Less than a week after Illinois Republicans filed a federal lawsuit challenging the drawing of new district boundaries for state legislative offices, they have filed a second lawsuit challenging the propriety of boundary lines for 18 new congressional districts.

Both suits allege the Democrats drew the boundary lines in a manner designed to improperly minimize the role of Republican and Hispanic voters.

It never hurts to try, but both suits are long-shots by GOP leaders aimed at minimizing their political disadvantage in Democratic-drawn districts.

Republicans are, of course, correct that Democrats drew both the federal and state lines in a manner designed to elect the maximum numbers of Democrats and the minimum number of Republicans. But the right to draw the maps has been generally regarded as one of the spoils of political victory, giving whatever party holds the majority the opportunity to entrench their political advantage.

Republicans are doing the same thing to Democrats in Wisconsin. Democrats there are doing the same thing as Republicans here, screaming bloody murder about the unfairness of it all.

The federal courts have intervened in extreme cases of gerrymandering, and perhaps they might do so in the Illinois cases. But Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, the mastermind of the map-drawing and a legendary political tactician, has lawyers, too. Presumably, they told him just how far he could go, and Madigan followed their advice.

Neither Republicans nor Democrats deserve public sympathy in these kinds of disputes. It's the public, stuck with districts drawn to produce pre-determined results, that deserves consideration here.

As we've said many times, it's an outrage that political parties are allowed in many states to draw political maps that perpetuate themselves in power. The results of these gerrymandered maps are uncontested and lightly contested legislative races that afford voters little to no choice.

That, unfortunately, is the reality in Illinois, and likely will continue to be after these civil lawsuits are over.