A homeowner suing the village of Dolton over his right to display a political sign for U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. in his yard will be allowed to keep the sign up until the day before the March 19 primary election after winning a temporary restraining order in federal court Monday.
The order from U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur prevents Dolton Mayor William Shaw and the town’s police chief from removing political signs from Myron E. Smith’s front yard under a Dolton ordinance that prohibits yard signs.
Shadur’s order said the ordinance violates Smith’s 1st Amendment rights.
The ordinance, which has been on the books in Dolton for years, became an issue last month when authorities repeatedly pulled Jackson signs out of Smith’s yard.
Jackson, who is running for re-election in the 2nd Congressional District race, has been a political opponent of Shaw’s and Shaw’s twin brother, Robert, a Cook County Board of Review commissioner, since shortly after Jackson was elected to Congress in 1995. The Shaws run a political organization on the South Side and in the south suburbs.
Jackson has waged parallel legal actions before the Illinois State Board of Elections and in Cook County Circuit Court, alleging that the Shaws were behind the candidacy of a 68-year-old retired truck driver from Robbins also named Jesse Jackson.
The Shaws denied the accusation and they support another candidate in the race. The Jackson of Robbins withdrew from the race on Feb. 1.
Shadur scheduled another hearing on the yard sign case for March 15. The Circuit Court case is pending.
