Illinois Bar Journal

Some scholars have predicted that the fall of the American experiment is inevitable and will expire like countless empires before it. However, using they mythical metaphor of Theseus’s ship may offer attorneys some hope, writes Christian Ketter in his March Illinois Bar Journal article, “A Constitutional Ship of Theseus.” 

It was 1972 and Jeffrey Hicken was a newly minted lawyer who landed a state government job reviewing cases of convicted and incarcerated felons and, where possible, write up their appeals. At $150 a week, it wasn’t much money, but he was thrilled. As to his win-loss ratio? That’s easy—he almost never won. One day a hefty parcel labeled People v. J.T. Darling appeared on his desk. It contained a trial transcript, documents, and reports about the burglary conviction of Mr. Darling, or “JT”, who had just begun a six to 12-year sentence at the Menard Correctional Center. JT was from Goofy Ridge, Illinois, where the crime took place. JT’s case would lead Hicken to learn one of his most formative lessons as an attorney.

In their February Illinois Bar Journal article, “Restorative Justice Privilege,” Hon. Stuart Katz (ret.) and Patrick Keenan-Devlin examine Public Act 102-100, which provides that any statement made during a restorative justice practice is privileged, meaning that it is inadmissible in any court or administrative proceeding. Additionally, the authors note that since restorative justice practices often involve pre- and postconference meetings, anything said in preparation for, or as a follow-up to, a practice is also privileged. 

Child pornography sits at the crossroads of constitutional and criminal law, writes Christopher Keleher in his January Illinois Bar Journal article, “Defining Lewdness.” Keleher notes that nudity is not the dividing line between free speech and prison, as the U.S. and Illinois Supreme courts hold that nudity—without more—is constitutionally permissible. Instead, there must be sexual conduct involving a minor to be pornographic. But the concept of child pornography is expanding beyond images of sexual conduct to include those that depict children in ways a viewer might perceive as sexual.