CHICAGO (CN) — A Seventh Circuit panel appeared skeptical Friday that it was the appropriate venue to adjudicate an Illinois employment law — or for that matter, whether the plaintiffs even had a triable case at this time.
In 2024, Illinois passed the Worker Freedom of Speech Act, which banned so-called “captive audience” meetings. These mandatory meetings, held during work hours, are often used for the purpose of discouraging labor organizing.
A think tank and local trade association challenged the law on First Amendment grounds, seeking a preliminary injunction preventing the director of the Illinois Department of Labor from enforcing it. A lower court dismissed their lawsuit, determining that Department Director Jane Flanagan did not have enforcement authority under the law.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Jeffrey Schwab again argued on Friday that the law grants Flanagan concrete enforcement authority — but the three-judge panel didn’t seem so sure.
U.S. Circuit Judge Kenneth Ripple, a Ronald Reagan appointee, asked Schwab how the director is supposed to enforce the law.
Schwab, an attorney with the Liberty Justice Center, said it was unclear. U.S. Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook pushed back on Schwab’s arguments.
“You say the statute doesn’t include a mechanism, but there are several state cases saying that when there is no express mechanism, then the suit is brought by the state attorney general,” noted Easterbrook, also a Reagan appointee. And yet “the attorney general doesn’...
WASHINGTON (CN) — President Donald Trump said Friday he would ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, claiming the media outlets had reported “fake news” about him and his administratio...