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Friday, June 22, 2007

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

The ILB has had a number of entries about the Chief Justice of Illinois' successful libel suit against a small Illinois newspaper, the Kane County Chronicle.

Today Tony Mauro of Legal Times has a column headed "Press Frets as More Judges Sue for Libel," looking at judges' suits in general, and specifically at the Illinois suit.

Here are some details about the Illinois lawsuit f rom Mauro's lengthy story:

The 2006 trial of Thomas' lawsuit in Geneva, Ill., was, by all accounts, unusual. "It managed to push more unique buttons than any libel case I ever studied," says Sandra Baron, executive director of the Media Law Resource Center, which aids the media in defending against libel and privacy suits.

Six current and former state Supreme Court justices testified on his behalf, many addressing Thomas as "Your Honor," even though he was the plaintiff, not the judge in the case. But when lawyers for the newspapers sought to cross-examine the justices about the disciplinary case that was the subject of the newspaper's columns, they refused, invoking what was later upheld on appeal as a "judicial deliberation privilege."

The newspaper's brief alleges that "the Illinois judiciary barricaded itself behind a wall of privilege that made it impossible for the Chronicle defendants to defend themselves."

Another problem, in the newspaper's view: the same appellate judges who endorsed the privilege were assigned to hear the newspaper's appeal. And that assignment came from the Illinois Supreme Court, five of whose justices have recused themselves from hearing the final appeal. With no quorum, the state Supreme Court cannot hear the case. Having a fair and complete appeals process available is especially important in libel cases, says Sanford, because U.S. Supreme Court precedent calls for de novo review of the facts on appeal.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 22, 2007 09:09 AM
Posted to Courts in general