Chicago journalists want judge who issued injunction to hear state's new lawsuit over federal agent use of force
The group of journalists who won a preliminary injunction against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over unlawful use of force have filed a motion to have the same federal judge hear the state's new lawsuit against the Trump administration.
The plaintiffs of Chicago Headline Club v. Noem filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois to reassign the lawsuit just filed by the State of Illinois and City of Chicago against DHS and other agencies and members of the Trump administration to reassign the case to Judge Sara Ellis's courtroom as it "shares significant overlap in factual and legal issues" with their case.
They argue both cases involve facts related to "numerous specific allegations of Defendants' authorization of and actual use of excessive force against Illinois residents and of Defendants' widespread practice of illegal warrantless arrests."
Additionally, lawyers for the plaintiffs write, "The defendants in Chicago Headline Club include Defendants DHS, ICE, CBP, Noem, Lyons, Hott, Scott, and Bovino. Those are the same defendants in Illinois. "
The new Illinois lawsuit was also filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois.
Judge Ellis recently declined to immediately dismiss the Chicago Headline Clubs' lawsuit, citing in part concerns about the shooting death of U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis.
"If I dismiss this case, the preliminary injunction ceases to exist. And certainly, given my ruling, I believe that the evidence presented in this case justify the need for a preliminary injunction to govern the actions of federal agents when they're interacting with legal observers, journalists and protesters," Ellis said last week. "It doesn't give me much comfort in reading news reports that someone who in some news reports anyway was described as a legal observer, was shot yesterday in Minneapolis."
She scheduled another hearing for Jan. 22.
Ellis issued an injunction restricting federal officers from using certain force unless absolutely necessary, after finding rarely, if ever, was such force necessary during Operation Midway Blitz.
In issuing her injunction limiting federal immigration agents' use of force in the Chicago area, Ellis had ruled their repeated aggressive use of force against peaceful protesters "shocks the conscience." She also found the Trump administration's testimony about agents' use of force "to be simply not credible," saying that Bovino had lied in testimony about the threats protesters posed before he personally used force in certain instances.
Lawyers for the Chicago Headline Club are asking for a hearing on their motion Thursday afternoon.
Please note: The above video is from a previous, related report.