Illinois General Assembly
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Cook County Public Defender poised to win OK to represent illegal immigrants in deportation cases beyond Chicago
The Cook County Public Defender's Office has represented 150+ immigrants facing deportation in Chicago Immigration Court since 2022. IL lawmakers are poised to allow the office to expand that mission to immigration courts elsewhere. Critics worry the program will only balloon from here, conflict with feds under Trump -
Felon Madigan should repay taxpayers nearly $600K for public pension
Former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan was convicted of misusing his public office for his own power and profit. Not only should his public pension be halted, he should repay the nearly $600,000 taxpayers already paid the felon. -
Leading Illinois Lobbyist Sydney Corryn Holman Returns to Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies
Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies, an affiliate of the law firm Cozen O’Connor, is pleased to announce Sydney Corryn Holman — who has served as Chicago’s deputy mayor of Intergovernmental Affairs and, prior to that, deputy director of Legislative Affairs for Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker — has returned to its highly esteemed government relations practice. -
Illinois sanctuary law will hinder, but won’t stop ICE agents in potential deportation actions
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker recently boasted that officials in heavily Democratic Illinois will attempt to shield illegal immigrants from potential deportation actions under the incoming Trump administration. An advocate for victims of illegal immigrant crime says state actions could place the state and local authorities on a legal collision course with the feds -
SAFE-T Act pretrial jailing appeals drop 88% after court rule changes; 'Found a sweet spot,' says task force chair
The number of appeals filed by criminal defendants seeking release from jail while they await trial dropped from 1,041 in January to mid-April to 154 in the three months following rule changes to ease the burden. The appeals numbers are still up significantly compared to years preceding Illinois' criminal justice system reforms -
Enough is enough
Illinois should follow the example set by Michigan in dealing with dysfunction in schools in Detroit and establish a new school district in Chicago to entirely replace CPS -
Restaurant Chain Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over Biometric Data Collection
A class-action lawsuit has been filed against a major restaurant chain over its use of facial recognition technology at self-service kiosks. The plaintiff alleges violations under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), claiming improper collection and storage practices regarding customer biometrics. -
GOP House candidates rail against defunding of Invest in Kids with DNC as backdrop
CHICAGO - Republican candidates for the General Assembly stood for school choice at an outdoor exercise in free speech near the Democratic national convention. -
'Ethics bill?' Or a threat to democracy in Illinois?
Ronald Andermann, a candidate for the Illinois House of Representatives District 53 in northwest Cook County, offers his thoughts on a new Illinois state law that Republicans and others say was designed to keep Andermann and others off the ballot this fall. Andermann is one of the co-plaintiffs challenging the law in court. -
Cook Co 'assault weapons' ban not constitutional, even under prior appeals court ruling upholding IL gun ban: Filing
Second Amendment rights advocates urged the Seventh Circuit Appeals Court to strike down Cook County's "assault weapons" ban ordinance and overrule their colleagues, saying the ordinance and the decision violate the Constitution and clash with two Supreme Court rulings -
Liberty Justice Center on automatic license plate readers lawsuit: 'The Fourth Amendment was written long before we had the technology to track peoples’ movements'
A public interest law firm is suing Illinois law enforcement officials for monitoring the movements of Illinoisans with automatic license plate readers (ALPRs). -
Parents' rights referendum won't go to voters, but Coalition says Dems' ballot-blocking power play shows 'momentum'
Parents Matter Coalition said they collected 102,000 voter signatures, well short of threshold needed to place their advisory referendum on the ballot. But they say an 'anti-democratic' law rushed through by IL Democrats shows the lengths progressives will go to keep Illinoisans from voting on the question -
Dot Foods allegedly wrongly asked workers about family medical history, class action accuses
The lawsuit asserts the alleged questions by Dot Foods amounts to a violation of an Illinois state genetic information privacy law -
IL Supreme Court upholds 'assault weapons' ban; Decision does not address 2nd Amend claims
In seeming 4-3 decision, court's majority says gun ban doesn't violate equal protection rights. Dissents divided, as Pritzker-backed justice says the law wrongly allows cops to keep gun rights, and conservatives say lawmakers unconstitutionally OK'd the law -
IL pregnancy center law unconstitutional attempt to stifle speech of abortion opponents: Lawsuit
The law empowers Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, a staunch supporter of unlimited abortion rights, to use a state consumer fraud law to investigate, prosecute and potentially fine and shut down pro-life pregnancy centers if Raoul believes they are spreading "misinformation" about abortion -
Appeals court: IL Supreme Court must rein in lawmakers' abuse of legislative process
A Springfield appeals panel has called on Illinois' highest court to do more than just 'bluster' and follow through on threats to police state lawmakers who rely on prior leniency from the state Supreme Court to all but ignore constitutional rules governing how laws must be passed -
Lawsuits incoming? Supreme Court rules 'home equity theft' tax sales unconstitutional, could spur action vs IL counties
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled counties and investors can't just pocket potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars from the sale of properties over relatively much smaller unpaid property taxes. States, like Illinois, and counties, like Cook County, are being warned that changes must be made or lawsuits will follow -
IL lawmakers OK law to force Illinoisans who wish to challenge state laws, official actions to only file suit in Chicago or Springfield
The law would restrict lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of state laws and actions by Gov. JB Pritzker and other state officers to courts in Cook County and Sangamon County. It could yet, in turn, also be challenged as unconstitutional, critics say -
IL gives up defending likely unconstitutional, politically motivated limits on judicial campaign contributions
A federal judge has issued a permanent injunction, forbidding state officials from enforcing laws enacted in 2021 forbidding out-of-state judicial campaign donations and limiting individual donations to $500,000. Critics said the laws were enacted to give Democrats a money edge in state Supreme Court races -
IL lawmakers poised to expand ability of personal injury plaintiffs to demand bigger paydays in wrongful death suits
Legislation backed by Illinois' powerful trial lawyers has moved rapidly to approval in Springfield. The new law would allow plaintiffs to demand punishing punitive damages from most private companies in personal injury lawsuits alleging wrongful death, while exempting governments and other favored entities from the same risk