News & Commentary

Legal Director Harvey Grossman appeared on WTTW's Chicago Tonight to discuss the Illinois Supreme Court ruling that struck down the Illinois Eavesdropping Law. You can watch the segment below:

On Thursday, an Illinois Supreme Court ruling in People v. Melongo struck down the decades-old eavesdropping law, ruling it as unconstitutional. The law prohibited any citizen from making an audio recording of a conversation deemed as private without getting prior consent from all parties  involved with a violation resulting in a felony charge. The ACLU of Illinois had criticized the law as a violation of the First Amendment. In 2010, the ACLU of Illinois challenged the eavesdropping law as it applied to the audio recording of police officers, in the lawsuit ACLU v. Alvarez. The Chicago Tribune writes:

An Illinois lawsuit, filed by a humiliated ex-wife, raises constitutional questions about privacy and free speech over what should be allowed to be posted on the internet. The wife claims her ex-husband caused her embarrassment and emotional harm by maliciously posting on the internet intimate pictures taken when they were still a couple. Illinois, and a number of other states across the country, are considering legislation to criminalize the tactics. The ACLU of Illinois is concerned that language of proposed Illinois legislation, as now written, could limit First Amendment rights:

Quad Cities Channel 6 TV asked its viewers their reaction to legislation now working its way through the Illinois General Assembly that would criminalize posting, on the internet, sexual images of a former intimate partner. Sponsored by State Senator Michael Hastings (D-OrlandPark) the bill recently passed the Illinois Senate and now awaits House action. It calls for a possible three year prison sentence and a $25,000 fine upon conviction. Comments from Channel 6 viewers focused on the harshness of the prison sentence. Channel 6 also reported that critics of the bill worried that its language was unintentionally too broad and could lead to misapplication if it becomes law as it is now written. Ed Yohnka, ACLU of Illinois Executive Director of Communications, suggested that the language should be redrafted because as currently written it could be used for other purposes:

Legislatures across the nation, including here in Illinois, are considering proposals to address the practice of "revenge porn," where a former partner uploads intimate photos to a website designed to host such images and video.  While the ACLU abhors this practice, we are concerned that some language in these laws go too far.   In particular, free  speech concerns over language in an anti-revenge porn  Illinois State Senate bill remain after the legislation moved out of committee and onto the Senate floor for consideration. State Senator Michael Hastings, the bill’s sponsor, and personal-story testimony presented at committee hearings, advocated for passage of the bill as a means to prevent abusive cyber bullying of an ex-partner in a sexual situation. According to The Chicago Sun-Times, Hastings deflected suggested language modifications to the bill raised by Mary Dixon, ACLU of Illinois' Legislative Director.  Dixon expressed concerns that:

Wrath and revenge, dynamite often thrown back at former partners of a dissolved personal relationship, have morphed with technology and now often appear online as revenge porn.  Across the country, and here in Illinois, legislators have advanced proposals designed to combat the malicious postings of an ex-partner in a sexual situation.  While acknowledging the abusive impact of revenge porn and the need to give victims legal recourse against perpetrators, The Chicago Sun-Times editorial cautions against state legislative action that slaps on criminal sanctions. The editorial, decrying the reality of unchecked revenge porn, notes that:

Chicago Reporter blogger Curtis Black reviews Chicago Police Department surveillance activity over the last several years in the wake of the undercover infiltration revealed in the trial of the NATO 3.  Black notes, appropriately, that the Chicago Police Department largely has reverted back to using surveillance tactics and methods similar to those used by the department’s notorious Red Squad of the 1970’s. While many of these practices were barred for many years under a consent decree in the ACLU of Illinois' so-called "spy suit."   The ACLU of Illinois expressed special concern the these tactics may be used now that the consent decree has been lifted:

The constitutionality of a River Forest ordinance limiting political signs on residential properties is being questioned by a village trustee. The local River Forest publication, Forest Leaves, reports that Trustee Thomas Cargie questions the legality of the ordinance which specifies that only one political sign, of specific dimensions, may be posted in a yard. When questioned on the issue, ACLU spokesman Ed Yohnka pointed out that the U.S. Supreme Court had stuck down a similar Missouri ordinance in 1994:

The Springfield Mass Transit District (SMTD) has issued a ban on wearing "sagging pants" on its buses, local station WICS-TV reports. The ACLU of Illinois has been alerted to similar instances in the past, when a community has attempted to ban pants that hang below the waistline. The First Amendment protects individuals' freedom of expression, and as we have sometimes seen, the attempts to ban sagging pants also have racial profiling implications.