U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger is certain he'll seek a second term — he just doesn't know in which of Illinois' 18 congressional districts. Veteran congresswoman Judy Biggert isn't sure either, after being drawn out of her district in a Democrat-led state remapping that tries to erase recent Republican gains in Congress.

Across the state, Illinois' GOP members of Congress are being forced to launch their 2012 re-election bids amid an atmosphere of uncertainty as they wait to see whether a federal court in Chicago upholds the congressional map signed into law by Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn. It throws many of them out of their old districts and into unfriendly Democratic territory or forces them to run against each other.

Biggert and Kinzinger were among 10 of the 11 Republicans in Illinois' congressional delegation who joined a lawsuit against the state in a longshot challenge over the new map. Democrats were in charge of map-making because they control the Illinois Legislature and the governor's office. Republicans have submitted an alternative map to the court, which is scheduled to hear the case starting on Nov. 17.

"I've always just said I'm running, I don't know where yet, but I'm running," said Biggert, from the western Chicago suburb of Hinsdale.

If the Democrats' map stands, she'll run in the 11th Congressional District, where she doesn't live. But if the court adopts the Republican plan, she would run in that map's 13th District, where she does live.

Republicans also claim the map discriminates against Latino voters by packing most into one district and diluting their voting strength in other places, although some Latino groups support the map.

The importance of Illinois' legal skirmish involves simple arithmetic: Democrats nationally are out to win back control of the U.S. House after losing it last year to the GOP, which sent five Illinois freshmen, including Kinzinger, to Washington.

Now, Kinzinger will be forced to hunt for a new home — literally — regardless of which map ultimately is used.

The Democrats' map moved the Manteno resident's home into Illinois' 2nd Congressional District, a Democrat-friendly district where he won't run, and where a high-profile primary battle is shaping up there between Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and former Rep. Debbie Halvorson, who lost her seat in 2010 to Kinzinger in another district. Instead, Kinzinger would run in the 16th Congressional District, which would force a primary battle with incumbent nine-term GOP Rep. Don Manzullo.

But if the Republican map is instituted by the court, he'd run in yet another district that captures rural areas as far west McLean County and wouldn't prompt a primary fight, which would cost one of them their job. The remap has already cost Illinois one congressional district because of slowing population growth.

"It's inconvenient. It's an annoyance not being able to necessarily know and it is what it is and thankfully we don't have to go through this every two years," Kinzinger said.

Meanwhile, Manzullo will run in the 16th district regardless of which map is used because Ogle County, where he lives, is included in both versions, said Rich Carter, the congressman's spokesman.

The uncertainty over re-elections happens every 10 years when new maps are drawn based on the latest census.

Republicans shouldn't count on winning their court battle because the courts typically don't have a problem with partisan advantage in the maps and some Latino groups support the new version, said Chris Mooney, a political science professor at the University of Illinois Springfield.

"The current map's probably going to stand. It's quite unlikely that the court is going to overthrow this map," Mooney said.

Mooney also doubted whether the uncertainty was having an effect on anyone besides politicians waiting for the legal challenge to be resolved.

"It's more unsettling for the politicians than the voters. I don't think the voters are paying that much attention, especially in Chicago and the suburban area (where) people don't know their congressman really well," he said.

Biggert says the uncertainty over the map hasn't stopped her from campaigning, she's just spending more time explaining the remap to would-be voters.

"You see why this is such uncertainty for the constituents and they're really confused," she said.

The court also has granted some leeway in petition-gathering for candidates. It has said signatures on petitions still would count even if the court changes the boundaries of a district where the voter who signed it lives, said Ken Menzel, deputy general counsel for the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Some Republicans who were drawn out of their districts didn't wait for any uncertainty over the map to be resolved.

Fiery freshman Republican Rep. Joe Walsh, who has earned a national reputation for his scathing criticism of President Barack Obama and a court fight over child support with his ex-wife, announced in September that he would run for re-election in the state's new 14th Congressional District northwest of Chicago in far suburban areas — forcing a GOP primary with Rep. Randy Hultgren, a conservative congressman who, like Walsh, who was swept into Congress by the GOP surge in 2010.

Hultgren wasn't happy.

"He's playing into the hands of the Springfield Democrats and Nancy Pelosi, who have drawn the Congressional map for Illinois specifically to encourage just such a contest," he said at the time.

Rep. Tim Johnson of Urbana was the only Republican member of Congress not to join the lawsuit, saying he has doubts about its chances for success even though he's been critical of the Democrats' remapping. He says it was more important to him to immediately begin campaigning for a sixth term in Illinois' new 13th Congressional District in central Illinois.

"Just because you don't like the way the process works doesn't mean you're not willing to accept the final product and proceed ahead," he said..