SPRINGFIELD – Illinois Auditor General Frank Mautino stands before the Supreme Court, not as a guardian of public money but as a former legislator who spent almost $400,000 in violation of campaign law.
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.
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.
An Illinois appeals court ruled the Illinois Board of Elections should consider fining Illinois Auditor General Frank Mautino for alleged campaign finance irregularities, committed while Mautino was a state representative.
A federal judge sided with Attorney General Lisa Madigan and the Illinois State Board of Elections in a lawsuit that sought to lift a state law that prohibits independent expenditure committees from contributing funds directly to political candidates, to "level the playing field" in an elections system the plaintiffs asserted is tilted.
Libertarian political candidates won a free speech victory in federal court as a Chicago judge declared unconstitutional an Illinois campaign law barring medical marijuana businesses from making campaign contributions.
A Western Illinois Republican Congressional candidate has partnered with a Chicago-based public-interest litigation group to challenge Illinois’ Election Day voter registration program, saying the state’s system is unfairly slanted to favor counties with the biggest populations and, by extension, to boost the likelihood of Democratic candidates succeeding at the polls.
A Chicago federal judge has sided with a suit brought by the Illinois Libertarian Party against the Illinois State Board of Elections, ruling state election law offends the U.S. Constitution by requiring a new party to list a full slate of candidates on nominating petitions in order to get on the ballot the first time.
