Latest News
Judicial Recusal & Confidence in Our Courts
This fall, the issue of judicial recusal has returned to the forefront in Illinois, with the indictments against Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke’s husband, Chicago Alderman Ed Burke. In particular, WBEZ reported at least 10 instances [...]
Malcolm Rich: Central Panels promote Fairness, Effectiveness, and Efficiency in Administrative Adjudication
The Hidden Judiciary: How Central Panels Improve Fairness, Effectiveness, and Efficiency in Administrative Adjudication By Malcolm Rich, Executive Director of the Collaboration for Justice of Chicago Appleseed & Chicago Council of Lawyers As states expand [...]
License to Work Act Passes
License to Work Act: SB 1786, the License to Work Act, passed in the Illinois legislature veto session on Tuesday, October 29. Chicago Council of Lawyers and Chicago Appleseed are proud to have worked as members [...]
Policy Statement of the Civil Liberties Committee: Limits on NSA Surveillance of Americans should be Retained or Strengthened
After Edward Snowden leaked classified memos that disclosed that the National Security Agency (NSA) had been been gathering bulk telephone metadata on Americans (such as phone numbers called and the dates and times), Congress enacted [...]
After years of advocacy, the recording systems in Chicago’s eviction courtrooms are officially operational as of October 25, 2019
Chicago Reader columnist Maya Dukmasova published an article on Wednesday, October 30, exposing the fact that, “for the first time in 16 years, Chicago eviction court is on tape.” Chicago Appleseed & Chicago Council of Lawyers [...]
Collaboration for Justice Fellowship Announcement
The Chicago Council of Lawyers was created in 1969 - fifty years ago - to give a voice to lawyers demanding fairness and effectiveness in the justice system. When the Council was founded, there was [...]
Merit-Based Judicial Retention in Illinois: A Viable Way to Improve the Quality of the State’s Judiciary
In 2014, Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) proposed to amend the Illinois constitution as a means to improve the way Illinois retains its judges. Her bill (HJRCA0010) suggested a judicial performance commission for the evaluation of [...]
ABA Resolution 100A: A Victory in the Fight for Procedural Justice, Fairness, and the Independence of Administrative Law Judges (ALJs)
A Victory in the Fight for Procedural Justice, Fairness, and the Independence of Administrative Law Judges (ALJs): ABA Resolution 100A, August 12, 2019 In February of 2019, we released a report entitled The Need for a [...]
Civil Liberties Committee opposes Proposed Rule to “Clarify” the scope of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
On August 12, the Civil Liberties Committee submitted a formal letter to the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services opposing a change to Section 1557 NPRM, RIN 0945-AA11 [...]
CPD’s “Gun Offender Dashboard” contains Disturbing Inaccuracies that are Misleading the Public about the Causes of Violent Crime
The narrative is deceptively alluring, because it plays into assumptions we hold about who perpetrates crime. It plays into the public perception that there are sets of “bad guys” in our communities who cause the majority of the violence and that if we simply made sure they were locked up, gun violence in Chicago would be solved.
