Illinois Fourth District Appellate Court
Recent News About Illinois Fourth District Appellate Court
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Fourth District profile: Red bench is forum for disputes involving the entire state
SPRINGFIELD – Statewide issues like virus mandates and judicial gerrymandering land on the bench of the Fourth District appellate court where voters haven’t picked a Democrat in 24 years. -
DeVore: Pritzker engaged in 'mental gymnastics' to justify appeal of Grischow TRO vs guv's school COVID orders
Attorney Tom DeVore urged a Springfield appeals court to reject Pritzker's attempt to block enforcement of a restraining order issued by a Springfield judge against his school COVID orders, noting 6 other judges already sided with Judge Grischow's reasoning -
Pritzker asks appeals court to slap mask mandates, other COVID restrictions, back onto schools
Gov. JB Pritzker and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul asked a state appeals court to move quickly to block a Springfield judge's temporary restraining order that voided emergency rules two state agencies used to impose mask mandates and other COVID-related restrictions on schools and students statewide. -
Pritzker to ask Springfield judge to keep school COVID mandates in place, pending appeal of order blocking his rules
The Illinois Attorney General, representing Pritzker, said he expects the appeal to be decided within two weeks -
Springfield judge slaps hold on IL statewide school mask mandate; Pritzker's powers not 'endless,' judge says
The judge issued a temporary restraining order on Pritzker's authority to force school districts to require students to wear masks and to exclude children suspected of being exposed to COVID from school without due process -
IL appeals panel: State doesn't need to pay business owners for shutdowns forced by Pritzker's COVID orders
Pike County bar and restaurant owners sought compensation for forced COVID closures -
IL high court avoids answering whether state constitutionally borrowed $14B; Says challenger waited too long to sue
The Illinois Supreme Court blocked John Tillman, CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute, from suing the state over whether state lawmakers unconstitutionally borrowed billions in 2003 and 2017. -
IL Supreme Court to decide if taxpayer can sue state over constitutionality of $14B bond issues
The Illinois Supreme Court granted the Illinois Attorney General's petition to appeal a lower court's ruling that a taxpayer should be allowed to move ahead with a lawsuit accusing state lawmakers of borrowing $14 billion to pay pensions and overdue bills in violation of state constitutional limits. -
Appeals panel: Springfield judge shouldn't have tossed taxpayer suit over whether state wrongly borrowed $14 billion
An appeals court in Springfield said the lawsuit raises constitutional questions that are the courts' job to interpret and decide. -
Appeals brief: Judge wrongly cut short taxpayer suit vs IL over constitutionality of $14B bond issues
An Illinois state appeals court has been asked to decide if a judge in Springfield improperly ducked the question of whether state lawmakers illegally borrowed billions of dollars to pay down bills, when such actions may be forbidden by the Illinois state constitution. -
Appeals panel: IL constitution doesn't force cities to keep paying retiree health insurance, even if benefit paid to current workers
Neither Illinois’ state constitution nor its insurance laws force cities to pay for retirees’ health insurance premiums, just because the city pays a portion of premiums for current employees. -
'Political questions': Judges duck thorny IL constitutional issues, but how much free rein should IL pols have?
Judges in Illinois have allowed the state government and Cook County avoid challenges to their spending power under the state constitution. But should they have? -
Poorer communities may be at greater risk for lawsuits following Supreme Court narrowing of immunity protection
Poorer municipalities may be hit harder following an Illinois Supreme Court decision that narrows the immunity communities used to enjoy against personal injury lawsuits, according to one attorney who represents a number of local municipalities. -
IL high court: Cities can't sidestep lawsuits by simply calling property repairs 'discretionary'
The Illinois Supreme Court has reduced the reach of the legal shield long enjoyed under Illinois state law by cities and other public bodies when faced with personal injury lawsuits, as the high court indicated the rationale advanced by lower court judges in rejecting a woman’s lawsuit over the injuries she sustained tripping on a Danville sidewalk was overbroad. -
Appellate court affirms AG ruling that housing group's records subject to FOIA
SPRINGFIELD — The 4th District Appellate Court has affirmed a decision by Attorney General Lisa Madigan that documents from a group founded to improve housing conditions in Danville are public record and fall under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. -
Fourth District: Asbestos judge did not err in staying terminally ill man’s trial
SPRINGFIELD – McLean County Presiding Judge Rebecca Foley committed no error when she stayed trial for a man about to die of lung cancer, Fourth District appellate judges decided on July 26. -
Illinois Supreme Court names new communications director
SPRINGFIELD — Christopher Bonjean will join the Illinois Supreme Court as director of the office of communications and public information. There, he will be responsible for reorganized the division charged with informing and educating Illinoisans about the judicial system. -
Fourth District Appellate Court decision was judicial activism run amok
The Appellate Court ignored the fact that four members of the State Board of Elections opined that the judges could not stand for election and four others voted they could. Even Baricevic and Haida obviously thought they couldn't run for election to their own seats; otherwise, they wouldn't have filed for each other's vacancy. -
Ancient milk marketing case heard at high court; Justices poke at Highland dairy farmers' theory
SPRINGFIELD – Former Highland dairy farmers Michael and Denise Richter, who let a suit against Prairie Farms languish for five years, found no visible support at the Illinois Supreme Court for their plea that they didn’t let it die. At oral argument on Jan. 14, questions from the Justices harmonized better with Prairie Farms than with Fourth District appellate judges who kept the case alive. -
Illinois law granting hospitals tax exemption struck down by appellate court as unconstitutional
A state appellate panel has struck down an Illinois law providing tax exemptions to hospitals, saying lawmakers erred under the state constitution in believing hospitals should be able to avoid paying property taxes because they may provide enough benefits to their communities to offset the millions of dollars in tax revenue lost to cities, counties, school districts and other local property tax-collecting entities. On Jan. 5, a three-justice panel of the Illinois Fourth District Appellate Cour