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Sunday, June 18, 2006

Courts - Illinois chief justice doesn't just get mad, he sues

"Chief justice doesn't just get mad, he sues" is the headline to this very long story today in the Chicago Tribune. Some quotes:

A politician might have written a righteous letter to the editor. A different judge may have ignored the matter altogether.

But when Illinois Supreme Court Justice Bob Thomas objected to a series of critical newspaper columns, the pugnacious jurist and former Chicago Bear sued the people who published them.

Now, elevated to chief justice and head of the state's judicial branch, Thomas is waging an unapologetic legal battle that raises some hot questions about political criticism and press freedom--while also fueling an intramural drama of keen interest in the state's legal circles.

The lawsuit alleges that the Kane County Chronicle defamed Thomas and cast him in a false light in articles published three years ago.

It could go to trial in September, offering the rare sight of a top jurist sitting on the other side of the bar, acting as a plaintiff before judges who are at least nominally responsible to the Supreme Court. * * *

Thomas' suit has spurred a legal battle over whether judges have the right to keep secret their closed-door conversations with colleagues. On the other side, it has raised questions about the confidentiality of journalists' sources.

"One side is promoting the judicial deliberation privilege while attempting to burst the reporter privilege," said Don Craven, legal counsel for the Illinois Press Association. "And while the newspaper is trying to protect the reporter privilege, they're also trying to get around the judicial privilege.

"It's a case of my privilege is bigger than your privilege," Craven said.

Justice's lawsuit rare

Although it is rare for judges to sue for defamation, there have been notable exceptions around the country. In Illinois in 1992, a jury sided with the Belleville News-Democrat after a judge complained about the facts in an editorial.

And last year, a former Downstate candidate for the Illinois Supreme Court filed a defamation suit against business groups for what he says were misrepresentations of his record in campaign material.

Presiding over a case involving one's colleague or boss is difficult in any case, lawyers say.

"Judges don't forget who the head of the court system is," Craven said. "Cases don't get decided in a vacuum."

No doubt, the Thomas lawsuit has touched a host of players in the judiciary. This year, other justices on the Supreme Court have fought the newspaper's efforts to find out what they know about the case.

The entire Kane County bench and its 2nd District Appellate Court declined to get involved, so the case has fallen to judges based in Cook County. Observers point out that, in Illinois' rough-and-tumble judicial world, just about every jurist in the state has some connection to the players in this case.

The journalist who penned the columns isn't backing down.

"I stand by what I wrote," says longtime columnist Bill Page. "I wouldn't write something like that if I didn't have sources for that information." * * *

The conflict started in 2003, as the state court system was dealing with a high-profile disciplinary case involving a Kane County prosecutor.

State's Atty. Meg Gorecki was accused of leaving messages on a telephone answering machine suggesting that a political contribution would help an applicant secure a county job.

Ultimately, the matter headed to the justices of the Supreme Court for a decision on whether she would have to give up her law license for a time.

Around that time Page wrote columns that were critical of Thomas, a Republican whose Supreme Court district includes Kane County. According to court documents, Page wrote on May 20, 2003, that many Republicans believed Thomas was "not impartial when it came to Gorecki."

Page wrote on Nov. 25, 2003, that Thomas originally pushed for tougher sanctions against Gorecki, but that he ultimately agreed to a four-month suspension of her law license. Thomas did this, Page wrote in that column, to gain the backing of some high-profile Gorecki supporters for a judicial candidate he favored. The lawsuit complains that Page termed the move a "little political shimmy-shammy." * * *

Thomas says if some of the things Page wrote about him were true, he could be subject to a criminal felony charge of official misconduct.

"It was a total fabrication, a total lie," Thomas says of what Page wrote. "More important than that, he was accusing me of a crime and of betraying my oath. I was just incensed."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 18, 2006 08:55 AM
Posted to Courts in general