When state legislatures and local officials are able to strip people of their rights and force them to go through expensive and lengthy lawsuits to get those rights back, then freedom is at risk for everyone.
This from amgreatness.com.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is gloating after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a case challenging the impartiality of the Illinois Supreme Court’s ruling on a gun ban lawsuit.
The case is one more example of a politicized justice system.
In the lower courts, the plaintiffs initially argued that the gun ban law violates the Illinois Constitution’s equal protection clause by allowing certain classes of people to continue to possess banned guns while criminalizing possession by others.
They won at the trial court, however, Gov. Pritzker appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court, where, to assure a fair hearing, the plaintiffs challenged the independence of two Illinois supreme court justices, Rochford and O’Brien, to hear the case, requesting that they recuse themselves. But they refused to do so.
Both Justices Rochford and O’Brien, just months prior to hearing this case, won their respective elections with the help of one million dollars each from Gov. Pritzker, the lead defendant in the case, and more than a half million from other defendants. In addition, a politically connected communist/globalist-run independent expenditure political action committee spent over seven million dollars on behalf of Rochford and O’Brien for the sole purpose of electing them.
That PAC, All for Justice, was run by Luke Casson who also did official work for State Senate President Don Harmon, also a defendant in the case. All for Justice was fueled by every [Leftist] constituency that feeds off government—unions, trial lawyers, pro-abortion groups, and those opposed to the individual right to own a gun. Senator Harmon also gave $500,000 to the PAC, and a couple of his members gave $50,000.
Created only two and a half months ahead of the election, the All for Justice PAC spent $7.3 million on behalf of Rochford and O’Brien. These amounts were significant, accounting for 53% and 42%, respectively, of all campaign expenditures made in their elections.
Unsurprisingly, Casson didn’t play by the rules. After the election, it was discovered that he violated campaign finance laws, for which his All for Justice PAC received one of the largest fines ever given by the Illinois State Board of Elections. To avoid paying the fine, Casson closed the PAC and moved the remaining money, almost $150,000, to another campaign account he is connected to (same business address.)
The influence of money in politics has always been most vociferously shouted about by the communist/globalist crime syndicate. But in Illinois, that same cabal routinely spends millions to elect state representatives. Already this year, Harmon has funneled nearly a million dollars to a state senator to fend off a primary challenge.
Politics is big business in Illinois, but political spending in a judicial race has serious implications when the justices hear and rule on cases involving people who financed their campaigns.
After losing at the Illinois Supreme Court, the case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, believing it had a strong Caperton challenge.
NOTE: In 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that judges must recuse themselves when the facts indicate a probability of bias. That decision, known as the Caperton decision, was specifically about campaign spending in a judicial race. If the spending is large enough to create a perception of bias, even if actual bias was not observed, judges must recuse themselves.
The request at the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Caperton challenge of the two Illinois justices was denied.
The plaintiffs understand that, for various reasons, worthy cases do not get heard.
Regardless, it is an obvious conflict of interest to everyone, but the ethically challenged Illinois justices, to rule on a case of great ideological importance to the defendant, Gov. Pritzker, after he and his cronies spent millions to get them elected.
One of the plaintiffs stated in an interview with the Chicago Tribune:
[W]e did not get a fair hearing in the Illinois Supreme Court, so now we’re going to have to look at other options. I think anyone who finds themselves at the Illinois Supreme Court must question their ability to get a fair hearing.
The gun ban law is just one of many in the last two years where one-party control of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches has emboldened communists/globalists to make laws that are not constitutionally sound.
In fact, in the debate on the bill in the Illinois Senate, the lead sponsor was told that the bill is likely unconstitutional and will invite lawsuits. The Leftist chief sponsor of the bill, Harmon, replied, “We’ll see you in court.”
These laws are a different type of lawlessness
and far more harmful than street crime.
