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The Collaboration for Justice—Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawyers—works to promote equity and full access to justice for all in our courts and regulatory systems. We promote reforms that recognize the intersection of social, economic justice and the court system. Our judicial system is deeply tied to cycles of poverty in the U.S., and understanding how courts and government systems create, collect, and manage debt is critical to creating equity.

On March 27, 2020, the federal government enacted the $2-trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which includes $250-billion in emergency relief funds to taxpayers and their families. Although the CARES Act protects these emergency relief funds from debt collection by federal and state governments, it does not address private creditors’ seizure of these funds from bank accounts to satisfy outstanding court judgments.

Our work to combat inequities in the levying of court fines and fees and the management of arrearages led us to concerns that CARES Act emergency monetary relief will be intercepted by creditor garnishment for debt relief.

With courts closed for most business, persons affected by garnishment may not have an opportunity to adequately raise their consumer protection rights nor argue that the CARES Act funds are exempt as public benefits. Families in critical need of money for food, rent, and medical care must not be unduly punished for their poverty through the denial of CARES Act relief without recourse.

The Collaboration believes the Illinois Attorney General and the Circuit Court of Cook County each have a duty to promote equity and justice and should take steps to protect the financial security of individuals during the crisis. The Attorney General’s office has that duty as a protector of consumers and debtors in Illinois; the Court has that duty as the administrator of justice in Cook County.

• Our letter to Attorney General Kwame Raoul follows his signature on a letter from a coalition of state Attorneys General calling upon the U.S. Department of the Treasury to designate CARES Act emergency relief funds exempt from garnishment by creditors. We have urged AG Raoul to take preemptive steps to protect individuals in Illinois from the seizure of their relief funds while we wait for the federal government to take action.

• Our letter to Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans joins the continued calls from advocates for courts to safeguard physical and economic justice during the COVID-19 crisis. We believe the court has the supervisory authority to suspend issuance of new garnishment orders, stay enforcement of existing orders, and release any property garnished or attached back to judgement debtors.

These two actions are a necessary step to promote the economic security of people in Illinois during these unprecedented times.