Edward Masters, a retired Will County Chief judge, held up traffic for about 15 minutes on Wednesday morning. Blocking hundreds of motorists heading through downtown Joliet along Cass Street. John and Ray give more information on the incident.
Tag Archives: judge
Judge recommends against transgender locker room ban
(CHICAGO) A federal judge has recommended against an injunction that would bar a transgender student from using the girls’ locker room at a high school in northwest suburban Palatine while a lawsuit proceeds.
A complaint filed over the summer by Students and Parents for Privacy — an “unincorporated association” of 51 families with ties to Township High School District 211 — is seeking to keep the William Fremd High School student out of the locker room.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey T. Gilbert on Tuesday said Township High School District 211 “offers all students reasonable accommodations to ensure their privacy is protected” and that “any cisgender high school student who does not want to use a restroom or a locker room with a transgender student is not required to do so.”
Gilbert’s finding was only a recommendation. A final ruling on the injunction is expected from Judge Jorge Alonso “in the coming weeks,” according to a statement from the school district.
The battle over transgender student access to the locker room centers around a Fremd senior identified as “Student A” in court filings. Born male, lawyers for the school district said the student is a girl “in every way she can be.” The student has been allowed to use the girls’ restroom at Fremd since August 2013.
Lawyers for Students and Parents for Privacy have insisted that “Student A is male,” and other students have a right to use a locker room “free of a male student.”
District 211 serves nearly 12,500 students from Palatine, Hoffman Estates, Inverness and Schaumburg, and parts of seven other northwestern suburbs, in five high schools and two alternative high schools. It was forced to give Student A access to the locker room last year when the Department of Education charged that not accommodating the student was a violation of Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex.
The lawsuit maintains that the 1972 federal law actually authorizes schools to retain single-sex restrooms and locker rooms, and Title IX is being unlawfully redefined by the Department of Education.
Challenger of fired clerk seeking judgeship bumped from race
Video from ABC 7
(CHICAGO) Plans by a woman to wage a write-in campaign against a former law clerk who allegedly impersonated a Cook County judge has been derailed by the Chicago Board of Elections.
Maryam Ahmad on Thursday declared her write-in candidacy against Rhonda Crawford in the judicial race. However, the election board ruled because Ahmad lost in the March Democratic primary for judge, she couldn’t run in the Nov. 8 general election.
Ahmad, whom the Illinois Supreme Court temporary appointed to the bench in 2014 to fill a vacancy, told the Chicago Tribune she believes she is eligible and will challenge the decision.
Crawford was fired last month after it was learned Judge Valarie E. Turner allowed her to hear the traffic cases. Chief Judge Timothy Evans removed Turner from the bench indefinitely.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Cook County judge accused of letting law clerk hear cases
(CHICAGO) A Cook County judge won’t be allowed to hear cases amid allegations she let a law clerk put on a robe and preside over at least two cases.
The office of Chief Judge Timothy Evans said in a news release that Judge Valarie E. Turner has been temporarily reassigned and the clerk has been suspended without pay.
The Circuit Court of Cook County Executive Committee issued its decision Wednesday after meeting to discuss allegations that Turner allowed Rhonda Crawford to preside over at least two cases. Crawford is an attorney who has clerked since 2011 and is running to be a judge in November’s election.
Turner had been assigned to a courthouse in the southern Chicago suburb of Markham.
Messages seeking comment from Turner and Crawford weren’t immediately returned.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
