News & Commentary

Earlier this evening, the Chicago Police Department filed a report with the federal court overseeing a consent decree aimed at improving systemic problems in CPD, problems that were detailed in a January 2017 Department of Justice comprehensive review of the Department. 

A federal court in Southern Illinois today denied the Illinois Department of Corrections’ request to dismiss a class-action lawsuit, Monroe v. Jeffreys, filed by five transgender women detained in Illinois prisons to reform the abysmal medical treatment that they and more than one hundred other transgender prisoners receive from the Department in its facilities throughout the state. In 2019, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Nancy Rosenstengel ordered the Illinois Department of Corrections to overhaul its practices and policies for providing treatment to prisoners with gender dysphoria. Despite the Court’s order, the State has not yet implemented the great bulk of the changes the Court ordered.  In response to the decision, John Knight, Director of the LGBTQ & HIV Project at the ACLU of Illinois, issued the following statement: “The Illinois Department of Corrections was given a clear path forward by the Court more than a year ago – a path that would provide the basic medical care that transgender people who have gender dysphoria desperately need. After months of dragging their feet and ignoring the clear needs of our clients in their custody, the State instead sought to get out of the lawsuit, arguing that they were still planning and working toward providing the life-saving care that our clients urgently require. That is wholly inadequate for our clients, who continue to endure significant harm from existing Department policies. We are pleased the Court soundly rejected the State’s effort to escape its constitutional duty to promptly reform its health care system and hope to have a chance soon to prove our case at trial.”

Two men currently detained at the Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) are asking a federal court to force the Federal Bureau of Prisons to take immediate steps to stem the spread of the coronavirus in the facility. Ricky Price and Kevin Conway are among the more than 500 persons detained at the MCC, a facility designed for only 400 detainees. It is clear that this overcrowding, which has caused double-bunking in small cells and the housing of up to 100 persons in dormitory-like facilities, has facilitated the spread of COVID-19.

Today, we celebrate President Biden’s executive order lifting the ban on transgender service members in the military. The President’s action reverses the cruel and arbitrary ban imposed by the previous administration nearly four years ago. 

Today we mark 48 years since the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Roe v. Wade, which affirmed an individual’s right to determine their own future by deciding whether and when to become a parent. Two years ago, Governor J.B. Pritzker pledged to make Illinois a national leader in protecting the right to access reproductive health care. Yet still there are youth in Illinois who are forced to appear in front of a judge and seek approval to control their own reproductive health care.

The following statement can be attributed to Colleen Connell, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois: “After four years, we cheer today’s order from President Biden reversing the discriminatory, discredited Muslim travel ban. The deliberate embrace of Islamophobia as the policy of our federal government is a shameful episode that cannot be erased with a single signature. It will take work. It will take not simply lifting a travel ban but adopting and enforcing policies that rejects bigotry aimed at Muslims across our nation. That work must begin immediately.  As we celebrate President Biden’s action, we remember those individuals and families who have suffered over the past four years. Birthdays, weddings, births and funerals have occurred with an empty chair because of this travel ban – which was never about safety and security. We also recall the heroes, the families who called out injustice and the lawyers who showed up at airports in the first hours of the travel ban with many continuing to help families and individuals facing discrimination. Their commitment has kept the flame of hope shining for many. And finally, we think about all those who stood up and went to O’Hare and sites across the country to protest this ban four long years ago. Our work to fight this discrimination must continue, not end, after today.” 

The following statement can be attributed to Colleen Connell, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois: “We join those across Illinois in recognizing the incredible accomplishments of Heather Steans during her tenure in the Illinois Senate. Over the past 12 years, the ACLU of Illinois has been proud to stand by her side in advancing marriage equality, advancing access to reproductive health care for all women in Illinois, protecting children under the care of DCFS, implementing critical protections from discrimination in health care based on religion and the effort to legalize cannabis. Senator Steans has been a leader for progress in Illinois and her voice in the Senate will be missed.” 

A federal district court judge in Chicago last week struck down a state law prohibiting panhandling in public streets and medians and ordered Illinois State Police not to enforce it. The ruling ends a lawsuit by two men experiencing homelessness who challenged the law. Michael Dumiak and Christopher Simmons sued after they were repeatedly ticketed and fined for asking passing motorists for help at a suburban Chicago intersection, while charities and religious groups collected donations at the same location without consequence.  The judge’s ruling resolves the case against the Illinois State Police and the DuPage County State’s Attorney challenging the constitutionality of the statute.  Other defendants – the Village of Downers Grove and several of its police officers – recently settled the claims against them and paid damages to Mr. Dumiak and Mr. Simmons after the Village repealed an ordinance similar to the state law.       Mr. Dumiak is pleased with the ruling, saying “Some of us are just out here because we need help, especially during this hard time with COVID-19. I can’t find a job right now.”   Christopher Simmons, the other plaintiff, passed away late last year.  He survived long enough to receive his monetary settlement from the Village of Downers Grove, but not to see the final resolution of the case. Upon receiving the settlement, Mr. Simmons stated, “This feels so great not just for me but for all people who are homeless,” said Christopher Simmons. “This began simply because I needed to ask for help. I’m thankful the federal court recognized I have a right to do that.”   “As the court recognized, government may not punish speech requesting personal donations while allowing other speech at the same time and place,” added Rebecca Glenberg, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Illinois. “Unfortunately, many local governments in Illinois still have anti-panhandling ordinances. Those municipalities are now on notice that they must repeal those laws or risk liability in federal court.”  “For years our homeless clients have faced criminal penalties for exercising their First Amendment rights,” said Diane O’Connell, Community Lawyer at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. “This decision is one in a line of cases that is finally changing these terrible laws across the United States.  No one should face arrest because they ask for help.”   Mr. Dumiak and Mr. Simmons were charged under an Illinois statute that makes it a misdemeanor to stand on a median to solicit contributions, employment, business, or rides from passing vehicles. The statute does not prohibit other interactions with drivers and passengers, such as gathering petition signatures or distributing leaflets. It allows municipalities to exempt certain charities from the law, even as local police enforce it against individuals who ask for money for their own use.   A 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling made it clear that most laws targeting panhandlers are unconstitutional. Although the case (Reed v. Town of Gilbert) was not about panhandling, the Supreme Court clarified that government regulation of speech based on its subject matter or purpose is almost always unconstitutional. Since Reed was decided, panhandling ordinances across the nation have been repealed or struck down by courts.   Mr. Dumiak and Mr. Simmons were represented by lawyers for the ACLU of Illinois, the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH), and the Chicago office of Schiff Hardin. 

As distribution of the vaccine for the coronavirus moves into the next phase, the Pritzker Administration is planning to prioritize prisoners in Illinois Department of Corrections’ facilities for vaccination. The decision recognizes the heightened risk faced by those who are incarcerated in places where they cannot ensure social-distancing or consistent use of personal protective equipment, as well as the associated risk to local public health resources.