The New York Times ran an article about the use of surveillance cameras in Chicago and the ACLU of Illinois' efforts to foster transparency in the reporting of the city's use of surveillance cameras. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has recently decided to install an additional 1,700 surveillance cameras throughout the CTA, in addition to the 10,000 cameras the ACLU of Illinois had estimated in a report released in February.

Andrew Koppelman, a Northwestern University law professor, said, “It is not to argue that Emanuel is wrong, especially in areas where crimes are likely. But limits are crucial, and the costs of knowing you’re being watched can outweigh the benefits.”

Limits sought by Adam Schwartz, senior lawyer for the A.C.L.U. of Illinois, include disclosing the number of cameras and promulgating rules on when a camera operator can use zoom, facial recognition or automatic tracking capabilities.

Read the entire article.

Wonderful news! Foster children in Illinois will continue to be placed in safe, loving homes based on their individual best interests - not the religious tenets of the foster care agency.

We received word late yesterday that Catholic Charities dioceses of Springfield and Joliet are voluntarily dismissing their lawsuit seeking to force the State of Illinois to enter contracts for foster care services even though they violated the law by refusing to place foster children in homes headed by gay or lesbian couples.

The ACLU of Illinois intervened in the suit, Catholic Charities v. Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), to defend the rights of children in the care of DCFS, as well as the interests of a lesbian couple with a civil union who plan to become foster parents.

We know this fight is not yet over - legislators have already filed ill-conceived proposals for the 2012 session seeking to permit religious foster care agencies to discriminate against couples with civil unions.

But for today - the children in the care of DCFS will be placed in the best homes available, and qualified lesbian and gay couples with civil unions will not be discriminated against by state contractors. It is a victory worth celebrating.

Yesterday, attorneys for the two remaining Catholic Charities agencies involved in a lawsuit against the State of Illinois, seeking to reverse a decision by the Department of Children and Family Services to end its contractual relationship with these agencies to provide state-funded foster care and adoption services, announced that they would end the litigation. The Catholic Charities agencies refused to provide services to lesbian and gay male couples, including couples who have a civil union under Illinois’ new law.

The following can be attributed to Benjamin Wolf, Associate Legal Director for the ACLU of Illinois:

We intervened in this case, to insure that only the best interests of children in DCFS care, and not the contrary religious values of private care providers, guide all foster care and adoption placements, a standard long recognized by professional child welfare experts. Children in Illinois are best served when there are as many and as diverse placement opportunities as possible. There is no child welfare basis to exclude gay people from being parents, as recognized by every major child welfare group. All children, in every region of Illinois, deserve the widest possible pool of qualified parents.

We hope the end of this suit and the transfer of children to agencies that do not discriminate marks a significant milestone in our state’s effort to create a first class child welfare system that serves all children and families in Illinois.

We believe that Catholic Charities has acted in the best interest of the children who are in the state’s care by dropping its case challenging Illinois’ policy of prohibiting discrimination against gay and lesbian parents in the provision of foster care and adoption services. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services now can focus on finding safe, permanent homes for children in its care without disruption and further conflict.

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