Illinois's wiretapping law (''720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5 / Criminal Code of 2012. Article 14'', also called the ''Illinois eavesdropping law'') was a "two-party consent" law.
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
made it a crime to use an "
eavesdropping
Eavesdropping is the act of secretly or stealthily listening to the private conversation or communications of others without their consent in order to gather information.
Etymology
The verb ''eavesdrop'' is a back-formation from the noun ''eaves ...
device" to overhear or record a phone call or conversation without the consent of all parties to the conversation. The law was ruled unconstitutional in 2014 by the
Illinois Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the State of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the five ap ...
, but was replaced by a near-identical law later that same year.
History
In 2009, Christopher Drew was arrested for "selling artwork without a permit" on State Street in the downtown Chicago Loop. He also had charges brought against him for "felony eavesdropping on a government official."
In August 2010, Tiawanda Moore had criminal wiretapping charges brought against her for secretly recording police officers with her
BlackBerry
The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...
when she was filing a complaint for
sexual harassment
Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...
. In August 2011, a jury cleared her of the charges brought against her, and in 2012 Moore filed a federal suit against the city, alleging "unreasonable seizure, false arrest and malicious prosecution".
Court proceedings
In 2010, the
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
filed the lawsuit ''ACLU v. Alvarez'' against
Cook County
Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 20 ...
State Attorney
Anita Alvarez
Anita M. Alvarez (born January 16, 1960) is the former State's Attorney for Cook County, Illinois, United States. Alvarez was the first Hispanic woman elected to this position, after being the first Latina to win the Democratic nomination for ...
, to block prosecution of ACLU staff for recording police officers performing their duties in public places, one of the group's long-standing monitoring missions.
On 2 March 2012, Criminal Courts Judge Stanley Sacks deemed the Illinois wiretapping law unconstitutional, potentially criminalizing "wholly innocent conduct".
In November 2012, the
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
declined to hear an appeal of this ruling.
On March 20, 2014, the Illinois Supreme Court declared the Illinois wiretapping law unconstitutional unanimously in ''People v. Melongo'' and ''People v. Clark''.
Revised law
Following the ''Melongo'' and ''Clark'' decisions, the
state legislature drafted a bill amending the wiretapping statute to make it constitutionally compliant. The bill was injected into an unrelated piece of legislation, and was passed as SB1342 late in the legislative session. On December 30, 2014, Governor
Pat Quinn signed the bill into law as Public Act 098-1142.
SB1342 makes changes to the original language of the wiretapping law, adding that in order to commit a criminal offense, a person must be recording "in a surreptitious manner". The bill's sponsors,
Elaine Nekritz and
Kwame Raoul
Kwame Raoul (, born September 30, 1964) is an American lawyer and politician who has been the 42nd Attorney General of Illinois since 2019. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Raoul represented the 13th district in the Illinois Senate fr ...
, claim the law upholds the rights of citizens to record in public.
See also
*
Law of Illinois
The law of Illinois consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, and regulatory law, as well as case law and local law. The '' Illinois Compiled Statutes'' (ILCS) form the general statutory law.
Sources
The Constitution of ...
* ''
Glik v. Cunniffe''
References
{{reflist
External links
Illinois Compiled Statutes (720 ILCS 5)
Freedom of speech in the United States
Illinois law
Illinois statutes
Police misconduct in the United States
Telephone tapping
United States Free Speech Clause case law