I came down to Springfield this morning with ACLU of Illinois Executive Director Colleen Connell and Board President Jill Metz to join the rest of the ACLU team as we fight for two of our major legislative objectives during this fall veto session: passing SB 1716 Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act and SB 3529 which would end the death penalty.

The bill to repeal the death penalty was passed out of the House Judiciary II - Criminal Law Committee on a 4-3 vote. This important vote moves the bill one step closer to vote of the full House, and we are working hard to move legislators to support the bill. 

We just finished an amazing press conference of Illinois religious leaders, speaking out in support of passing SB 1716, the civil union legislation. This important bill would provide basic legal benefits to gay and lesbian (or straight!) couples who have been denied them under current Illinois law. We are hopeful the bill will swiftly move towards a vote in the next day or so. 

Stay tuned - and follow us on twitter and facebook for the latest.

In August 2010, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois filed a lawsuit arguing that civilians have a right protected by the First Amendment to make audio recordings of on-duty police officers. The plaintiff in the lawsuit is the ACLU of Illinois as an organization, because we want to audio record police as part of our on-going police monitoring and advocacy. Specifically, the ACLU of Illinois challenged the use of Illinois Eavesdropping Act to prosecute individuals who record police conversations with civilians that take place in public, while police are performing their duties, and when those conversations are audible to the human ear. The ACLU contends that such prosecutions unlawfully preclude individuals - and organizations such as the ACLU of Illinois - from being able to record police interactions on public streets and thoroughfares and disseminate that information to policy makers in order to address specific policy concerns.

In a decision issued on October 28, U.S. District Court Judge Suzanne Conlon dismissed the complaint on grounds of standing, holding that the ACLU could not pursue the case since it had not been threatened with prosecution. The court also dismissed the suit without prejudice. The court did not address the first amendment merits of our suit.

On November 18th, the ACLU of Illinois filed a motion asking Judge Conlon to reinstate the lawsuit, and to allow us to file an amended complaint, so that we can move forward to the substantive questions we raise about the eavesdropping law. The filing adds new allegations to support the ACLU's standing, including adding our executive director and senior field manager as additional plaintiffs.

We look forward to pursuing the matter to a successful conclusion.

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Download:

• Motion to amend - filed 11-18-10
• Memo to amend - filed 11-18-10
• Amended Complaint
• Connell Declaration
• Carter Declaration