A hot topic in Illinois, legalized sports gambling is a possibility now that the U.S. Supreme Court has declared that the federal ban on the activity is unconstitutional. While Congress has yet to act, states are free to legalize sports gambling on their own. In Zachary Bock’s May 2019 Illinois Bar Journal article, “Sports Gambling: Will Illinois Bet on It?,” Bock provides an overview of recent efforts to legislate gambling in Illinois and elsewhere. He also summarizes the wide range of decisions that need to be made before bets are placed in Illinois. Among his takeaways: Illinois should monitor states such as Pennsylvania, where high sports-gambling fees and taxes have been imposed.

The Illinois Supreme Court on May 17 announced amendments to Rules 68, 472, and 558. The changes are effective immediately.

Supreme Court Rule 68 requires judges to file a written statement of economic interests and relationships of the judge and members of the judge’s immediate family with the Supreme Court’s clerk. The amendment requires the clerk to redact the judge’s email address contained in any statement filed pursuant to the Rule.

The Secretary of State’s office receives many types of civil documents/orders from courts and attorneys regarding judgments arising from uninsured motor vehicle crashes. These documents need to be read, interpreted, and processed by employees of the Secretary of State (SOS) to determine what, if any, action should be taken against a person’s driver’s license. 

Because the SOS employees processing these documents are not attorneys and because these documents vary by county and by attorney, reading and understanding the content of the submitted documentation can be difficult. Understanding the documents is of utmost importance since action taken based on those documents can affect a person’s legal ability to drive.

Spotlight on Pro Bono: The Public Interest Law Initiative’s Statewide Pro Bono Programs

The Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) is a nonprofit organization based in Chicago, with offices in Peoria and Champaign. PILI’s mission is to engage, inspire, and empower those advancing equal access to justice. PILI envisions making equal access to justice a reality through a legal community with a deeply rooted culture of service, where pro bono and public interest law engagement is optimized to best serve people, families, and communities in need.