Stepping into the Shoes of the Department of Justice: The Unusual, Necessary, and Hopeful Path the Illinois Attorney General Took to Require Police Reform in Chicago

• Published in: Northwestern journal of law and social policy Vol. 15; no. 2; pp. 121 - 171
• Main Authors: Madigan, Lisa, Hendrickson, Cara, Ehler, Karyn L Bass
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago Northwestern University (on behalf of School of Law) 01-01-2020
• Subjects: Accountability; African Americans; Attorneys general; Burge, Jon; Community; Court hearings & proceedings; Criminal investigations; Daley, Richard M; Excessive force; Extortion; McDonald, Laquan; Official misconduct; Police; Police departments; Police reform; Public prosecutors; School resource officers; Shootings; Cook County Illinois; United States > US; Illinois; Chicago Illinois
• ISSN: 1557-2447

"[W]e can't continue to let this go on. Someone has to have the will, someone has to have the serious will, to want to have this change..."- Testimony of Karl Brinson, President of Chicago West Side Branch of NAACP, during the fairness hearing. "The decree takes an important step forward in the City of Chicago's ongoing efforts to repair the damaged relationship between its police department and members of the community whom the department serves and protects. But it is a beginning, not an end." -Judge Robert M. Dow, Jr., State of Illinois v. City of Chicago. After a long and tragic history of mistrust between police and residents in 2017, Chicago (the City) was on the precipice of a dramatic change within its police department. The City had recently faced months of outrage and uproar in the wake of a police shooting of a young African American man named Laquan McDonald. Following an investigation into the Chicago Police Department (CPD), then-U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch stood with then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and pledged to finally do the hard work of police reform through a court-ordered and court-enforced consent decree. We, along with many Chicagoans, hoped for change. But in a few short months, those hopes were dashed. President Trump appointed Jeff Sessions as the new U.S. Attorney General. He disagreed that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had any role in enforcing civil rights violations by police departments. At Chicago's City Hall, the importance of pursuing enforceable reform was shifting. Mayor Emanuel began pursuing an out-of-court agreement promising reforms within CPD that lacked enforceability mechanisms. After numerous failed attempts at police reform, Chicago would continue under a status quo that for too long has endangered residents and police officers alike. In our capacity at the time as the Illinois Attorney General and two of her top deputies, we took action, believing that our office was in the best position to make this moment in Chicago different this time around. This Article looks at the history of policing in Chicago, how the police shooting of Laquan McDonald galvanized Chicagoans-particularly African American youth-to demand real, lasting change, and how our lawsuit finally brought enforceable police reform for the benefit of communities across the City.