Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has indicated he will appeal a federal judge’s decision refusing to allow his administration to get out from under federal oversight of allegedly corrupt state hiring practices.
On April 26, the Illinois Attorney General’s office filed a notice in Chicago federal court, indicating their intention to appeal a decision from late March from U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang.
The notice does not indicate the basis of the appeal, nor what precisely the governor seeks to challenge in Chang’s March 31 ruling. Neither has the attorney general yet filed any briefs on behalf of the governor with the U.S. Seventh Circuit of Appeals.
However, the anticipated appeal would continue Pritzker’s efforts to toss aside decades-long review of federal oversight, intended to reduce instances of allegedly politically motivated and unfair hiring practices at various state agencies under the governor’s supervision.
In 2020, Pritzker and his fellow Democrat, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, filed motions before Judge Chang, arguing the federal oversight was no longer needed, because the state had corrected the patronage hiring and employment problems targeted by a series of federal court orders.
That federal oversight has been in place, in some fashion, since at least 1972, when federal judges first sided with anti-corruption reform advocates, Chicago lawyers Michael Shakman and Paul Lurie.
The two men had sued the Cook County Democratic Party beginning in 1969, alleging hiring practices in Cook County violated the law. In later actions, federal judges expanded the so-called Shakman Decrees to encompass a host of government agencies in Springfield and Chicago, all of which were accused of using politics to make hiring and job promotion decisions.
Pritzker, however, argued the state government, particularly through the Office of the Executive Inspector General, had put in place policies and procedures strong enough to meet the requirements laid out in the Shakman Decrees, and eliminate the need for continued federal enforcement of those court orders.
In response, however, Shakman argued the governor was too hasty, at best. Rather than proving violations of the decrees no longer occur, Shakman argued Pritzker and Raoul had merely pointed to systems and processes that may not have been fully implemented, or even reviewed by the court.
Shakman urged for oversight to instead be strengthened.
"The message is not getting across to employment decision-makers that the OEIG will root out the problems and that there is a price to pay," Chang said.
Chang further observed: "On the front end, partisan decision-makers naturally will make every effort to conceal the political bases of an employment decision. On the back end, current employees naturally fear retaliation for challenging or reporting potential violations. This is not an easy problem to solve. It just is not easy to durably protect State employees from partisan decision-making in employment."
He also expressed concern about the transparency and visibility of the OEIG’s oversight and review of state agency hiring practices.
He agreed to allow a court-appointed special master to continue her work to investigate and enforce the state’s so-called Comprehensive Employment Plan.
Pritzker’s notice of appeal states the governor is challenging Judge Chang’s decision “denying the Governor’s motion to terminate” the Shakman Decrees applying to the agencies under his supervision.
Other government agencies have also attempted to remove the Shakman hiring oversight in recent months.
Earlier in April, the Seventh Circuit appeals court refused the request of Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough to overrule the decision of a federal magistrate judge, who had also ruled such oversight should still apply to her office, citing continued concerns over her office's employment practices.
However, in that ruling, the Seventh Circuit judges voiced concerns that the federal courts and their appointed overseers may not be doing enough to move the review process toward completion in a timely enough fashion.
Shakman and Lurie, who are licensed lawyers in Illinois, are represented by the Chicago firm of Locke Lord, and Shakman's firm of Miller, Shakman, Levine & Feldman.
Lurie is with the Chicago firm of Schiff Hardin.