News & Commentary

The US Supreme Court’s Ruling on Strip Searches Last month, the United States Supreme Court, in a 5 to 4 decision, decided the jail strip search case of Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders, affirming the split decision of Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Albert Florence, an African American, was riding as a passenger in a vehicle that was stopped

Settlement in Class Action Lawsuit Against City of Chicago Gets Preliminary Approval We have good news to report to you regarding the settlement of the class action lawsuit, Vodak v, City of Chicago, et al., stemming from the March 20, 2003 anti-Iraq war protest. On Monday, May 14, District Court Judge Virginia Kendall granted preliminary approval of the class action

THE BILL FOR PINSTRIPE PATRONAGE CHICAGO STYLE: $63.9 MILLION SINCE 2003 (Revised and updated on June 13, 2012) For more than 40 years, the City of Chicago has paid top dollar to private lawyers to represent the City and its police officers in the most notorious civil rights cases of assassination, torture, brutality, and wrongful arrest and convictions by Chicago

Political Repression in the Age of ObamaOriginally presented as a speech at CAIR-Chicago (Council of American-Islamic Relations) event “Guilty By Activism” on March 15, 2012 By Michael Deutsch, attorney at People’s Law Office In understanding the present dangers to our civil liberties, and the right to organize and to support movements here and throughout the world, we must analyze how

The deposition of Richard M. Daley has been scheduled in the civil rights case of Michael Tillman’s. On Monday, People’s Law Office attorneys and their co-counsel representing Michael Tillman agreed with lawyers for the City and Richard Daley to schedule the deposition for Friday, July 13, 2012. This will be the first time that Daley will have to respond under

People’s Law Office attorneys gained a major victory on April 26 when a federal court jury returned a verdict in favor of PLO client Reggie Bryant, awarding him $70,000. This verdict includes a whopping $45,000 in punitive damages, intended to penalize the defendants for their egregious acts and to deter other officials from such behavior. Mr. Bryant, who is African

Michael Tillman and his co-defendant, Steven Bell, were arrested for murder in July of 1986 and tortured by two teams of Area 2 detectives working at the direction of Lt. Jon Burge and his “right hand man” John Byrne. Over a four day period, Tillman was repeatedly suffocated with a plastic bag, subjected to a crude form of waterboarding, brutally

On the evenings of October 15-16, 2011, and again the following weekend, October 22-23, approximately 300 activists with OCCUPY CHICAGO were arrested by Chicago police when they attempted to occupy a corner of Grant Park at Michigan Avenue and Congress Parkway. The activists were cited for violating a Chicago Park District Ordinance which purports to bar use of the park

On March 19 and 20, Presiding Judge Peggy Chiampas found eleven activists not guilty of all misdemeanor charges. The two unrelated cases involved members of Action Now and the Immigrant Youth Justice League engaging in courageous demonstration activity to improve their communities and promote social justice. The demonstrators were represented by People’s Law Office attorneys Janine Hoft and Sarah Gelsomino.

Dear Vodak v. City of Chicago potential class members: February 9, 2012 There is important and exciting news about the settlement of this case. On March 20, 2003, the Chicago police illegally detained and arrested you during a peaceful protest against the disastrous war in Iraq. Since then, your lawyers and legal workers, all members of the National Lawyers Guild,