Does the Illinois Open Meetings Act violate the First Amendment?

Maybe, report Peter Friedman and Stuart Weiss in the new ISBA Local Goverment Law newsletter. At least if a recent decision by the federal fifth circuit catches fire with other federal appellate courts. Interpreting the Texas Open Meetings Act in Avinash Rangra v. Frank D. Brown, the fifth circuit held that "the enforcement of one of the cornerstone provisions of the Illinois Open Meetings Act—that a majority of the quorum is the trigger for a meeting under the Act—is subject to a legal standard that may make it very difficult for this and similar provisions in other states to withstand constitutional scrutiny," Friedman and Weiss write. Read the article.