News & Commentary

Cross-posted from The Chicago Tribune. 

Since the Illinois State Supreme Court struck down the state’s anti-eavesdropping law for being too broadly written it has been legal in Illinois to secretly record conversations without permission from either party. The Illinois Senate passed legislation, sponsored by Senator Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago), which would establish new guidelines tailored to today’s cell phone technology and supporters believe the State House could take up the issue during the veto session. Ed Yohnka, ACLU of Illinois Director of Communications and Public Policy, wishes the old law had not been struck down but pointed out legislators should craft a bill that includes:

In a weekend editorial, the Peoria Journal Star questions the idea that Peoria’s citizens should be footing the mayor’s legal defense costs in the city’s Twittergate lawsuit. Reviewing the suit filed by the ACLU of Illinois on behalf of Jon Daniel, the newspaper reiterated the strengths of Daniel’s claim that his First and Fourth Amendment rights were violated when, at the mayor’s instigation, police entered his home, searched and confiscated his cell phone and computer equipment in response to his Twitter parody of the mayor. The editorial again calls on the city “to cut its losses,” challenges the wisdom of the city’s public relations strategy, and maintains that the mayor and city council members must be held responsible and accountable:

A 29-year-old Peoria resident is suing the City, the Mayor and several officials for their overreaction to a Twitter parody of the Mayor. The city officials caused the parody to be turned into a police matter, leading to a raid on Mr. Daniel's home, the seizure of his personal property and his arrest and detention. Jon Daniel, represented by the ACLU of Illinois, is asking a federal court in Peoria to hold the Mayor, the City Manager, the former police chief and other City officials accountable for violating his First and Fourth Amendment rights by responding to a parody account spoofing the Mayor by launching a manhunt for the account’s author.

Well, you could see that one comin’.

The ACLU of Illinois will provide legal representation for a Peoria man responsible for a Twitter account that parodied the Mayor of Peoria, Jim Ardis. Peoria police raided the home of Jon Daniel on April 15, seizing cell phones, computers and other items they suspected were related to the Twitter account. The ACLU of Illinois believes that parody is protected speech and that Daniel's Fourth Amendment rights were also violated. The Peoria Journal Star spoke with Communications and Public Policy Director Ed Yohnka:

The Illinois State Supreme Court recently struck down the state's eavesdropping law. The ruling came in two cases where the law's requirement of consent of all parties before a conversation could be recorded had been used in some places to prosecute individuals who recorded conversations that were really not private, or involved recording public officials doing their public duties. The Court found the language of the law was too vague and too broad in permitting these prosecutions. Now, members of Illinois General Assembly must pass legislation in order to put an eavesdropping law in place. The ACLU of Illinois has urged the General Assembly to maintain the important privacy protections in the previous law, protections that protect residents of Illinois against broad government intrusion. Ed Yohnka, ACLU of Illinois Communications Director noted the challenge here:

The ACLU of Illinois helped to clarify an issue regarding a local woman's First Amendment right to peacefully assemble in a letter to the City of Peoria this week. Shelby Cooper, organizer of the city's first Million March Against Child Abuse was told that she would need to pay for a permit, and would need proof of insurance coverage for her event. She contacted the ACLU who stated in the letter:

The Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee debated and defeated a resolution, opposed by the ACLU of Illinois, which urged academia to condemn college and university boycotts as a tool to influence policy issues on the international scene. The defeated non-binding resolution called on Illinois college and university presidents to publicly oppose boycotts in an effort to deter any action against Israeli institutions now being promoted on many campuses by pro-Palestinian groups. Introduced by Illinois State Senator Ira Silverstein (D-8th) the resolution sited the disruptive effects boycotts have on students’ rights to a global education. ACLU of Illinois Legislative Director Mary Dixon sited the U. S. Supreme Court decisions upholding the importance of freedom of association. In her statement on the resolution Dixon said: