News & Commentary

In another victory on the road to the freedom to marry for thousands of gay and lesbian couples and their families, Circuit Court of Cook County, Chancery Division today denied a motion to dismiss the two landmark cases seeking the freedom to marry for same-sex couples in Illinois, allowing plaintiffs' claims for violation of the fundame

WBEZ has an in-depth piece on stop-and-frisk, a practice used by police departments that has been ruled unconstitutional in New York City, and has just recently come under scrutiny in Chicago. A stop-and-frisk is a random encounter initiated by a police officer that escalates to a pat down for weapons. The ruling in the New York City case found that the NYPD's stop-and-frisk program disproportionately targeted minorities.  The process of investigating stop-and-frisk practices in Chicago has proven to be fraught with obstacles. In 2011, the ACLU of Illinois filed a FOIA to look at the nature and number of stop-and-frisks performed by the Chicago Police Department. Unfortunately, stop-and-frisk encounters are not being recorded in the system implemented by the CPD, and the documentation gathered as a result of the FOIA request was subject to extensive redaction.

Mark

Vani