(SPRINGFIELD) The U.S. Supreme Court has announced court cases challenging gun and ammunition magazine bans, including several lawsuits from Illinois, have been distributed for an upcoming conference. It was this past Tuesday that the country’s highest court moved the cases from Illinois to conference, set for two weeks from today, on Thursday, May 16th, 2024. However, one group of consolidated cases remains in the Southern District of Illinois U.S. Court with the expectation a trial on the merits will take place in July.
(SPRINGFIELD) Illinois Democrats yesterday passed legislation at the State House which Republicans say was filed at the last minute and rushed through the voting process. The amendment was filed on Senate Bill 2412 Wednesday morning and quickly assigned to the House Executive Committee. A quick hearing was then held and on Democrat votes, it was passed out of committee. A short two hours later the amended bill was then brought forth for a vote on the House floor. The bill passed with all 67 Democrats voting for it while the House Republicans all voted “present” as a protest vote. Now approved, with Governor J.B. Pritzker expected to sign it into law, the bill would put three questions on the statewide ballot, which with a three question limit, will squeeze out other questions that advocates would like to see on the ballot. The three proposed referendum questions approved deal with Election Worker Protection and Candidate Accountability, Property Tax Relief and Fairness, and Assisted Reproductive Health.
(SPRINGFIELD) The Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission (ARDC), the administrative agency that regulates lawyers throughout Illinois, has filed its year 2023 Annual Report with the Supreme Court of Illinois. Providing complete and comprehensive statistics concerning lawyer registration, disciplinary caseload, financial conditions, and more, the report is available on the iardc.org website. The 2023 Master Roll of Attorneys in Illinois had a total of 96,440 lawyers, reflecting an eight-tenths of a percentage increase from the year before. There were 1,597 new-admittee lawyers with 1,609 lawyers that retired. While 21 lawyers were disbarred in 2023, 38 others were suspended, and 5 were censured.