Liberty Justice Center
Recent News About Liberty Justice Center
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Supreme Court refuses to hear home care providers' lawsuit vs SEIU over compelled representation
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a group of Illinois child care providers and in-home care assistants for those with disabilities the chance to argue their constitutional rights were violated by an Illinois state law forcing the care providers to accept the Service Employees International Union as their bargaining representative. -
SCOTUS expected to toss rules forcing non-union workers to pay fees; big political impacts possible
Sweeping changes in how unions collect dues and fees can be expected soon, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear a case against Illinois' largest public sector employee union, two labor attorneys said during a recent interview. And such a decision also could have significant ramifications for the nation's politics. -
SCOTUS to take up Illinois case challenging power of unions to collect fees from non-union state workers
The U.S. Supreme Court will again wade into the question of whether public sector worker unions can force government employees who don’t wish to join their union to still pay fees, ostensibly for collective bargaining representation, after the court on Sept. 28 agreed to hear arguments in the case of Janus v AFSCME. -
Vugo given green light to continue lawsuit vs city over Uber, Lyft ad ban
Minneapolis-based tech firm Vugo, which provides interactive video advertising to be displayed in Uber and Lyft vehicles, has received a green light to continue its legal challenge against a Chicago city ordinance barring such advertising in the vehicles, as a federal judge said she wasn’t sure she was buying the city’s assertions the ad ban was needed to protect “captive” passengers. -
Home caregivers ask SCOTUS: Can IL force union representation?; Potential ramifications far-reaching
A group of Illinois child care providers and in-home care providers for those with disabilities have asked the nation’s highest court to step in to their dispute with a prominent labor union, arguing the state’s decision to force the care providers to allow the Service Employees International Union to serve as their bargaining representative as a condition of accepting payment through state assistance programs violates their constitutional rights. -
Video game companies: City's 'Cloud Tax' can't be legally applied to online gaming, streaming
An association representing some of the biggest names in video and computer games have sued the city of Chicago, asking a judge to determine the city’s 9 percent "Cloud Tax" can’t be applied to their online streaming video game products. -
New Illinois Policy Institute book suggests 12 constitutional amendments to fix IL's problems
As Illinois’ financial, political and legal troubles continue to mount, a new book, issued by one of the state’s leading voices for reform, suggests the questions facing the state can largely be answered by amending the state’s constitution. -
Federal judge strikes down IL law banning med marijuana groups from donating to political campaigns
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. -
IL 'fair share fees' lawsuit tossed; plaintiffs say 'desired result,' allowing appeal to SCOTUS
The U.S. Supreme Court will get the chance to decide just how much public worker unions in Illinois and elsewhere can exact from non-union workers, after a federal appeals court in Chicago upheld a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit intended to challenge a longstanding legal precedent used by unions to justify the forcible collection of so-called “fair share” fees. -
Chicago's controversial 'Airbnb ordinance' to go into effect
A judge has dissolved a stay on the effective date of Chicago’s controversial home sharing ordinance, allowing the city to begin enforcing the law. -
Illinois can choose SEIU to represent all home caregivers in negotiations: Appeals court
The state of Illinois doesn’t trample on the rights of non-union home care providers by forcing them to abide by the terms of deals it strikes with a union over care provider pay rates and other terms of the care providers’ “employment,” a federal appeals court has ruled. -
Seventh Circuit hears arguments over IL 'fair share' union fees; case may be headed to SCOTUS
A challenge to the power of state worker labor unions to extract so-called “fair share” fees from non-union workers could be ticketed for the U.S. Supreme Court, where opponents of the fees hope a conservative-majority court could overturn a longstanding legal precedent used by unions to justify their forcible collection of fees from public employees who refuse to pay formal union dues. -
Church wins OK to continue to jury with claims Burbank discriminated by denying permit for sanctuary
A church will be allowed to press its claim that a southwest suburban Cook County government owes it some money for allegedly discriminating against the congregation and torpedoing the church’s deal in place to buy land for a new sanctuary. -
Company that sells advertising to Uber, Lyft passengers sues Chicago, says tilted city rules favor taxis
A Minneapolis-based tech firm which provides interactive video advertising to be displayed in Uber and Lyft vehicles has sued the city of Chicago, saying the city’s rules forbidding the ride-hailing services from displaying advertising on or in their vehicles, while allowing traditional taxis to do so, unconstitutionally favors the taxis at the expense of the other drivers. -
Lincolnshire will appeal decision that tossed its right-to-work ordinance
The village of Lincolnshire will appeal the ruling of a trial court that tossed out the city’s right-to-work ordinance. -
Attorney involved in Harris v Quinn: SEIU should repay fees 'illegally' collected from day care providers
Illinois-based home child care providers who paid "fair share" fees for almost nine years to a union they did not support will not get that money back following a lawsuit, after a federal judge who heard their case rejected the plaintiffs' argument the arrangement violated their constitutional rights and said the union can keep the money because it collected the money in "good faith." -
Cities, counties can't enact right-to-work laws, judge says; Lincolnshire ordinance tossed
Cities, villages and counties don’t have the authority under federal law to impose local right-to-work rules on employers, workers and unions, a Chicago federal judge has said, tossing out a right-to-work ordinance enacted by the village of Lincolnshire in 2015. -
Voters OK'd term limits for their towns, but barriers make applying limits statewide difficult
On Election Day, four Cook County communities took action on an issue that many voters in Illinois want to see addressed on a much larger scale: term limits. -
Conservative group alleges IL AG and Dem harassment
ROCK ISLAND – A conservative group accused of voter suppression has countered with its own claims that county Democrats and the state Attorney General's office are suppressing voter turnout and harassing its vote-by-mail program volunteers. -
Election Day voter registration cleared for IL this November; judges refuse to rush appeal
Election Day voter registration will be allowed this November at all polling places in Cook County and Illinois’ other more populated counties, after a federal appeals court refused to speed up proceedings in the case, pushing briefing in the matter back to Nov. 10, two days after Election Day.