Michael J. Kasper
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Opponents to Chicago property sales tax hike referendum ask IL Supreme Court to step in
Business groups argued an appellate court's decision reinstating the referendum on the ballot would effectively allow the Chicago City Council and other lawmaking bodies across the state to place any referendum questions on any ballot they wish, regardless if the questions are constitutional -
Prominent election lawyer, Madigan ally Kasper wades into Proviso school board election fight
Attorney Michael Kasper, who has for the decades represented Michael Madigan and other prominent Illinois Democrats, is now representing longtime controversial Proviso school board member Theresa Kelly in her effort to use a recount to find enough votes to keep the seat she has held for 23 years -
Who is bail for? Question could decide fate of SAFE-T Act
Lawmakers have made changes to Illinois' sprawling, controversial criminal justice reform law. But the changes appear to have no legal bearing on the constitutional challenges to the law brought by dozens of Illinois state's attorneys -
State's attorneys: IL Dems rewrote IL constitution by eliminating bail; IL A/G: SAFE-T Act protects constitutional rights
Legal teams representing 62 Illinois county prosecutors and the Illinois state officials have squared off with opposing filings in Kankakee County court, with the fate of the so-called SAFE-T Act at stake -
State's attorneys' lawsuits to strike down SAFE-T Act head to court soon in Kankakee County
The Illinois Supreme Court consolidated 57 lawsuits challenging the SAFE-T Act, the law that will eliminate cash bail in Illinois and presumes nearly all criminal defendants cannot be held in jail before trial. The lawsuits will be led by Kankakee County State's Attorney Jim Rowe, with assistance from six other state's attorneys, including prosecutors in Will and McHenry counties -
Calumet City sues ex-attorneys, says they won't cooperate with new lawyers, who have ties to Speakers Madigan, Welch
Calumet City Mayor and Illinois State Rep. Thaddeus Jones won election in May 2021, and immediately replaced the city's longtime lawyers with attorneys with ties to current Illinois House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch or indicted ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan or -
Judges say Dems' partisan power grab in drawing new maps didn't also violate Voting Rights Act
Democrat mapmakers were "motivated by partisan political considerations," a panel of federal judges said, so it doesn't matter that they divided Latino and Black populations up among various districts, rather than maximizing majority minority districts -
IL Dems, challengers spar in court over whose map would result in more Latino, Black lawmakers elected
Republicans and Latino and Black advocates told a panel of federal judges that Illinois Democrats drew a new state legislative district map solely to protect Democratic incumbents and boost their party power, stepping on Black and Latino voting rights in the process. -
Dems: Legislative maps drawn using politics, not race, so no need to alter maps just to boost Black, Latino districts
Illinois' top Democratic lawmakers asked a panel of federal judges to ignore 'remedial maps' filed by Latino and Black advocacy organizations, with Republican lawmakers, even though the challengers' maps appear to significantly boost the number of majority-minority legislative districts. -
Republicans, Latino advocates file proposed map to 'correct constitutional defects' of Dems' state districts
The proposed new map, filed with federal judges, would nearly triple the number of majority Latino state House and Senate districts, compared to plan approved by Democrats and signed by Gov. JB Pritzker in September -
Judges: Democrats' June state district maps unconstitutional; New September maps still under review
A panel of federal judges said Democrats' decision to use "population estimates," rather than Census data resulted in unbalanced districts, under a plan rushed through simply to retain firm grip on power -
Judges pause redistricting lawsuits vs Dems, give Dems til Sept. 1 to approve new maps using Census data
Republicans had asked the court to not give Democrats a "do over" on drawing new legislative district maps, when Democrats had not used Census data on their first attempt, resulting in unbalanced districts.. -
Republicans court filing: IL Democratic lawmakers shouldn't get unconstitutional 'do over' on drawing legislative district maps
Democrats intend to use a late August special session to redraw Illinois' state legislative districts to align with Census data, but Republicans say their failure to draft legally valid maps earlier this year means the task should go to a special redistricting commission, under Illinois' state constitution. -
Republicans: Census data backs up claims that Democrat-drawn district maps are illegal
Illinois Republican lawmakers said their analysis of data released by the U.S. Census Bureau last week shows Democrat-drawn legislative district maps don't meet the requirements of federal law, as they earlier alleged in their lawsuit challenging the maps. -
Top IL Dem lawmakers ask federal court to toss challenge to new legislative district maps
Illinois Democrats assert the lawsuits brought by GOP leaders and a Mexican legal group, which accuse the Democrats of improperly drawing district boundaries without official Census data, must fail because there is no official Census data to compare their new maps against. -
Madigan continues to rake in donations from trial lawyers, despite federal corruption probe
State campaign finance disclosures reveal trial lawyers, their firms and political lobbying groups have donated more than $175,000 to Madigan's two campaign organizations since Sept. 30. -
Trial lawyers keep funding Madigan political war chest, despite bribery scandal; $161K donated in September
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, who is also chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois, has been implicated in a federal bribery investigation. Trial lawyers, however, continue to donate money to Madigan's campaign organization. -
Appeals panel rejects IL officials' bid to rewrite deal easing ballot access for third parties amid COVID
Judges said the action would have resulted in roadblocks for third parties to access the ballot this fall. The action was led by lawyers associated with Democratic Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. -
7th Circuit will hear IL election board's continued arguments against its own 3rd-party COVID ballot access deal
The Illinois State Board of Elections is insisting the appeals court needs to weigh in to set parameters on the power of federal judges to rewrite state election rules amid a pandemic. -
How was top Dem lawyer, Madigan ally selected to represent IL elections board in court? No one will say
Michael Kasper, an elections lawyer who serves as general counsel to the Illinois Democratic Party, was appointed by the Democratic Illinois Attorney General to represent the state elections board, in a battle over efforts by third parties to ease ballot rules amid the COVID crisis.