Attorney stands by judicial integrity concerns in Illinois Supreme Court gun ban case

[May 22, 2023]  By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – With the Illinois Supreme Court considering the constitutional challenge to the state’s gun and magazine ban, concerns around judicial integrity persist.

Last year, two sitting Illinois’ Supreme Court justices were candidates for the bench when they each received $1 million to their campaign committees from Gov. J.B. Pritzker. After the election and now on the bench, Justices Elizabeth Rochford and Mary O’Brien denied a motion for their recusal in the gun ban challenge brought against Pritzker by state Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur.

After Tuesday’s oral arguments in the gun ban challenge, Caulkins’ attorney Jerry Stocks said the question of judicial integrity was important to address, but concerns still linger.

“My personal view as a down-stater is it’s pretty darn corrupt in Illinois and I know our perception down state is that we want to see that the process and the institutions, not aspersions on the individuals, but the institutions and our procedures do more to protect against that,” Stocks said.

The court could rule on the gun ban challenge in the weeks ahead.

“If we see how the ruling is and the ruling is adverse, we just have to measure and evaluate at that time,” Stocks said.

The exterior of the Illinois Supreme Court in Springfield - Greg Bishop / The Center Square

He stood by his complaint in the recusal motion and suggested he could seek a challenge in the federal courts based on previous U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

“And [the 2009 Caperton v. Massey U.S. Supreme Court case] says that a court of review must accord due process in the context of freedom of bias and prejudice in an issue, or appearance of it,” Stocks said.

Pritzker said in March it was “ridiculous” to suggest that anyone who received campaign money from him should have to recuse themselves.

“If you’re suggesting that the fact that I gave money to let's say the Democratic Party or the committees that supported candidates means that everybody who’s received any money has to recuse themselves from anything to do with the state of Illinois, that’s ridiculous,” Pritzker said. “And I’ve certainly never asked anybody to vote a certain way or decide on a case a certain way. I would never do that. I never have and I never will.”

Greg Bishop reports on Illinois government and other issues for The Center Square. Bishop has years of award-winning broadcast experience and hosts the WMAY Morning Newsfeed out of Springfield.