It’s been nearly six years since three Chicago aldermen stormed the School of the Art Institute, ripped a painting off the wall and marched to the school president’s office.
The painting was a mocking portrait of the late Mayor Harold Washington, done up in lacy women’s lingerie. Exhibited just six months after Washington’s death, it produced cries of racism, threats to cut off the school’s funding and a public apology from the museum’s board. It also offended virtually everyone.
On Monday, it came back to haunt the three politicians-Ald. Dorothy Tillman, Ald. Allan Streeter and former Ald. Bobby Rush, now a U.S. congressman.
Attorney James Chapman asked a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit to reverse a lower court ruling holding the three liable for violating the artist’s civil rights.
If the panel is unsympathetic to their argument, there’s a possibility the three politicians could soon find themselves owing the artist, a student at the school when the controversy erupted, $100,000 each for those constitutional violations.
“It’s a very, very heavy burden that’s been placed upon them,” Chapman, who is representing the three politicians, said after the hearing. “Their entire livelihoods are endangered.”
The three aldermen removed the painting from its display on May 11, 1988, and threatened to destroy it during a meeting in the school president’s office.
U.S. District Judge George Lindberg ruled in August 1992 that those actions violated David K. Nelson Jr.’s 1st Amendment rights by stifling his expression. The three aldermen also violated his 4th Amendment rights by seizing the painting without a warrant, Lindberg found.
In papers filed with the federal appeals court, Nelson maintains his painting is artistic and political expression. The U.S. Supreme Court has established that political caricature is entitled to the highest level of constitutional protection, Nelson noted.
But the aldermen maintain that they were justified because there was an “imminent threat of violence” at the school. Therefore, as officials acting to preserve order, they should be immune from liability.
Tillman removed the painting that day. It hasn’t been seen publicly since. Nelson’s lawyers have custody of it, said Marc O. Beem, one of his attorneys.
A ruling is expected in the next few months.
