News & Commentary

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.

On the heels of a decision by a U.S. District Court Judge that found Wisconsin’s ban against same-sex marriage unconstitutional, 42 out of 72 Wisconsin county clerks began to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. More than 238 licenses were issued to same-sex couples in Madison and Milwaukee alone within hours of Judge Barbara Crabb’s ruling last Friday, in a case brought by the ACLU.  U.S. District Court Judge Crabb denied a request to stay her decision as the State appeals, and is expected to draft an order, with ACLU input, that will make Wisconsin the 17th state to acknowledge marriage as a right, entitled to everyone, regardless of sexual orientation.

Cross-posted from The Chicago Tribune.

Sometime today or tomorrow, the Illinois General Assembly ends the 2014 Spring session. We can report to you that a number of priorities advanced by the ACLU of Illinois during this session are on their way to Governor Pat Quinn. Among those measures moving forward:

Justice prevailed in Chicago municipal court when charges were dropped against two young men arrested last March 31 while canvassing the Garfield Park neighborhood to encourage residents to sign up for Obamacare. Kevin Tapia (19) and Felip Hernandez (20), community outreach activists with Grassroots Collaborative, were stopped, searched and arrested on charges of “soliciting unlawful business.” Though a judge dismissed the case, unlawful stop and frisk police-tactics are employed by the Chicago Police Department; but how often and in which city neighborhoods remains unverifiable because police contact sheets are not made public. Hernandez and Tapia’s case directed public focus to the controversial, usually racially loaded, policing measure. The ACLU of Illinois advocates for police disclosure of stop and frisk data so that the public has the information needed to assess the use of this policing tactic. ACLU of Illinois staff attorney Lindsay Miller maintains that the Chicago Police Department’s stop and frisk policies result in thousands of unlawful detentions of young male minorities every year.

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 ACLU of Illinois lost a friend and supporter with the death of Paul Lutter on May 4, 2014. An attorney with Bryan Cave LLC, Lutter was an associate and then partner at Ross and Hardies from 1971-2003 and focused primarily on estate and tax law. Born in 1946, Lutter took pride in his family’s Chicago history noting that the Lutter Brick Company helped to rebuild the city after the great fire of 1875. A Phi Beta Kappa 1968 graduate of Carleton College, Lutter received his law degree from Yale in 1971.