Steve Schmadeke

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan participates in a question-and-answer program Monday at the Chicago-Kent College of Law about her time on the high court.

Justice Elena Kagan talks about life on the Supreme Court during Chicago appearance

May 31, 2019 at 9:04 p.m.

The death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia forced the remaining eight members of the nation's highest court to work harder toward compromise, Justice Elena Kagan said Monday during...

Chicago Cubs shortstop Addison Russell loses his bat and it flies toward the edge of Wrigley Field's safety netting near the dugout on Oct. 11, 2017.

Spectators’ injury lawsuits against ballclubs face legal hurdles such as the Baseball Rule

May 23, 2019 at 5:01 a.m.

Juanita DeJesus never saw the ball coming. DeJesus was sitting along the first base line at a 2009 minor-league baseball game in Gary, Ind., when an infield fly struck her...

A Cook County sheriff's vehicle is parked at part of the scene of a shooting in the 7900 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue on Oct. 8, 2017, in the Chatham neighborhood of Chicago.

Cook County taxpayers could be on hook for back pay in fired sheriff’s deputy cases

June 2, 2018 at 5:41 a.m.

A decision by Illinois' highest court could mean the Cook County sheriff's office will have to reimburse millions of dollars in back pay to more than 250 fired deputies or...

Julia Stasch, president of the MacArthur Foundation, announces a grant to study changes in the Cook County criminal justice system on Oct. 4, 2017.

Cook County justice system awarded $2M grant to study changes

June 2, 2018 at 8:12 a.m.

As Cook County revamps a criminal justice system long criticized for letting poor black and Hispanic detainees languish in jail, leaders on Wednesday welcomed a nearly $2 million grant largely...

A statue at the entrance of the Illinois Supreme Court Building in Springfield.

In rare step, Illinois Supreme Court removes judge from two civil cases

May 23, 2019 at 4:59 a.m.

In what legal observers describe as a highly unusual move, the Illinois Supreme Court has for a second time in two years removed the same Cook County judge from a...

Principal bassist Joseph Guastafeste, center, plays with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1968. Gustafeste is currently in the midst of a legal battle with his daughters and a son-in-law over the ownership of two "priceless" basses he once played, a Gasparo da Salo bass made around 1585 and another made by Domenico Buzon circa 1749.

Daughters fight back in battle with dad over ‘priceless’ musical instruments played at CSO

May 23, 2019 at 4:57 a.m.

A deepening family feud that ended a retired Chicago Symphony Orchestra bassist's relationship with one of his daughters has splintered into a court battle over the musician's "priceless" double basses,...

Cook County Circuit Judge Grace Dickler led the effort to abolish parentage court.

After legal challenges, Cook County’s court for unwed parents quietly goes away

May 23, 2019 at 4:54 a.m.

When Vito Glazers and the mother of his child couldn't work out a visitation schedule for their then-infant son, he did what many parents do and went to court and...

The Rev. Daniel McCormack arrives at the Cook County Criminal Courts Building on July 2, 2007. The <runtime:topic id="ORNPR000031">Archdiocese of Chicago</runtime:topic>recently reached an agreement to pay $4.45 million to settle three lawsuits brought by three men who allege they were sexually abused more than a decade ago by McCormack.

New round of lawsuits filed against ex-Chicago priest convicted of sex abuse

May 23, 2019 at 4:55 a.m.

Three new lawsuits were filed Wednesday against a notorious former priest convicted a decade ago of molesting five boys. The new allegations against the Rev. Daniel McCormack, who will likely...

Lawsuit challenges the cash bail system in Cook County

May 23, 2019 at 4:55 a.m.

A Cook County Circuit Court judge on Monday heard hours of legal arguments but held off on a key ruling over a lawsuit that alleges the county's use of cash...

Locke Bowman, director of the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center, said the lawsuit against five Cook County judges represents the principle "that it's not only unconstitutional but morally repugnant to imprison a presumptively innocent person, someone who hasn't been convicted of anything, simply because he's too poor to buy his way out of jail."

Fate of lawsuit over cash bail system, criticized for hurting poor, could be decided Monday

May 23, 2019 at 4:54 a.m.

A pivotal hearing Monday could decide the fate of a lawsuit aimed at revamping Cook County's cash bail system, which has been criticized for systematically keeping poor and minority suspects...

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