National Lawyers Guild Chicago strongly opposes HB3023. This legislation raises significant concerns regarding free speech rights and is ripe for potential misuse. If passed, this legislation would deter Illinoisans from engaging in First Amendment protected activity. While attacks on free speech are always concerning, this bill is particularly troubling given the attacks on our democracy the US is currently facing from the Trump administration.

We believe that this legislation could have a chilling effect and deter residents from engaging in protests, assemblies, or the dissemination of controversial ideas due to fear of legal repercussions. HB3023 establishes relief through civil litigation, which could be exploited to suppress dissenting voices through frivolous lawsuits. One of the most concerning aspects of this legislation is that it fails to clearly limit or narrow the liability of potential defendants. This ambiguity opens the door for wealthy interests to attack the rights of students, unions, and neighborhood, community, or political organizations they do not agree with, should a wealthy individual subjectively feel like the mere presence of such a group is “threatening.”

National Lawyers Guild Chicago urges Illinois legislators to protect free-expression and vote no on HB3023.

The National Lawyers Guild of Chicago expresses its solidarity with our members Professor Sheila Bedi at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law and Palestine Legal Justice Fellow Rifqa Falaneh in the face of McCarthyesque intimidation by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Workforce.

We denounce the Committee’s partisan inquiry into Professor Bedi’s work. This inquisition is clearly meant to repress free speech, critical thinking, and independence in American higher education, particularly the independence of lawyers and legal clinics. In a recent statement, over ninety Harvard law professors made clear that “singl[ing] out lawyers and law firms for retribution based on their lawful and ethical representation of clients disfavored by the government, undermin[es] the Sixth Amendment” and the rule of law. The House’s targeting of Professor Bedi’s legal representation of Attorney Falaneh through the Bluhm Legal Clinic undermines the role of lawyers in society, for it seeks to criminalize legal representation of clients, including representation of those engaged in protected First Amendment activity. 

We call upon Northwestern University to reject the Trump Administration’s attempts to intimidate and silence Professor Bedi, and to instead stand behind her. This requires the University to reaffirm its commitment to free speech, the rule of law, and the integrity of its legal clinics and their professors to operate independent of administrative oversight.

Professor Bedi, an experienced lawyer and clinical professor, is defending Attorney Falaneh against a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (“SLAPP”) suit, in which all of the Defendants have moved to dismiss the case and for sanctions. The SLAPP suit is one of several frivolous cases that are blatant attempts to silence free speech opposing genocide. Professor Bedi’s legal representation admirably uplifts fundamental civil rights and liberties. Northwestern should be proud of this work and fight to protect it. 

Professor Bedi’s representation of Attorney Falaneh is just one example of the critically important work she has done through her role as a Northwestern clinical law professor. She has sued the Chicago Police Department (“CPD”) over its violations of civil rights, including multiple police murders, and has worked to enforce CPD’s compliance with the Federal Consent Decree. Professor Bedi’s work highlights a deep commitment to the dignity of everyday people in the face of state brutality.

The House’s letter to Northwestern comes amid a wave of escalating violence in Gaza and repression in the United States. Israel has unilaterally broken the ceasefire agreement and killed hundreds of Gazans, including women and children, bringing the civilian death toll to over 50,000. Innocent student activists have been seized off the street by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Columbia University expelled, suspended, and revoked the degrees of 22 students for their advocacy in support of Palestinian liberation, and has now completely capitulated to the Trump Administration’s demands, including placing academic departments in Government “receivership,” abandoning all pretense of university independence. Despite Columbia’s voluntary submission, Trump continues to withhold funding as the school made these concessions to simply “start negotiations.” Northwestern cannot allow Trump and Congress to intimidate and deceive Northwestern University into similar actions.

Even if institutions feel tempted to compromise with fascists and obey in advance, capitulation only emboldens and encourages authoritarianism and repression. Universities everywhere must courageously stand up for their faculty and students. Faced with this intimidation from Congress and the Trump Administration, Northwestern now has a moral, legal, and ethical duty to stand up and support Professor Bedi.

The National Lawyers Guild of Chicago

April 3, 2025

2024 has been jam packed with organizing and protesting so it’s only fitting that both of our annual celebration awardees are not just exemplary members of our movement lawyering community, they’re also dedicated activists.

This year’s Arthur Kinoy People’s Law Awardee Andy Thayer was once described as “a gigantic pain in the butt for law enforcement” by a retired Chicago Police Deputy Commander in a 2012 Sun-Times profile. For decades, Andy has been a mainstay of Chicago’s social justice movement, organizing campaigns and supporting young activists, all while serving as Loevy + Loevy’s office manager since 2003. As co-founder of the multi-issue, LGBTQ Gay Liberation Network, he has long worked to provide an intersectional voice within the LGBTQ community, helping spearhead the fight for equal marriage rights in Illinois years before “mainstream” activists joined the fight. He has focused on raising issues not popular with corporate gay activists such as support for Chelsea Manning, solidarity with Palestinians, opposition to gentrification, and opposing United States’ many wars. 

NLG Chicago is also excited to honor Rifqa Falaneh with the Trailblazer Award. Throughout 2024, our Mass Defense Committee has worked with Rifqa to support students targeted by their universities for activism in support of Palestine. She is the Michael Ratner Justice Fellow at Palestine Legal where she challenges the censorship, surveillance, and suppression of advocates for Palestinian liberation. She is the founder of Bar None at UIUC Law, a civil rights organization dedicated to uplifting the legal struggles of marginalized communities. In the summer of 2022, Rifqa was an Ella Baker intern at the Center for Constitutional Rights where she worked on Palestine solidarity cases, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and research on aiding and abetting a tort in New York for international crimes. She previously served as President of SJP DePaul and helped re-establish SJP Chicago in 2019.

We hope that you’ll join us on September 28th at Haymarket House to honor these incredible members of our movement lawyering community! 

Get Your Tickets Here!

As the Democratic National Convention (DNC) came to a close on Thursday, the Chicago chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is issuing a postmortem on the police response and the way in which the Chicago Police Department (CPD) facilitated the detention of dozens of protesters. Massive shows of force, brutality, and mass arrests define the police response to protests during the week. CPD conducted a total of 76 arrests from Sunday through Tuesday—two on Sunday, thirteen on Monday, 59 on Tuesday and 2 on Thursday—which resulted mainly in municipal citations for disorderly conduct, but also several people charged with misdemeanors, as well as four felonies. NLG Chicago received reports of several people who were injured as a result of the police melee on Tuesday outside the Israeli consulate. One protestor is in court process and all other protesters arrested this week were ordered released on their DNC related cases.

NLG Chicago received multiple reports throughout the week of arrested protesters needing hospitalization. Four hospitalizations resulted from police abuse, two of which were confirmed by the arrestees themselves, and two were confirmed by CPD Superintendent Snelling in press conferences. One person who was injured by Chicago police on Sunday during their arrest was taken to Insight Hospital, then held in the 1st District until they were released on Monday night. Another protester arrested on Monday was taken to Stroger Hospital, then held in the 12th District, where she was shackled by her legs and arms to a wall so tightly, it resulted in swelling in each of her joints. Two other protesters arrested on Monday needed critical medication during their detention and were hospitalized as a result. Members of NLG Chicago have independently confirmed each of these reports with the arrestees themselves.

During the week of protests, police made the decision to hold arrestees charged with municipal violations in custody for hours at a time, despite having the discretion to cite and release them in accordance with the Pretrial Fairness Act, a state law implemented in September 2023. NLG Chicago also received multiple reports of arrestees being questioned by detectives at Area 3, while lawyers were at the station waiting to meet with their clients.

Notably, NLG Chicago was often obstructed by police from tracking arrestees in custody, unnecessarily complicating a process that NLG Chicago was assured in the weeks prior to the convention would run smoothly. This occurred at district stations throughout the city, but especially at the 19th District at Belmont and Western, where the majority of arrestees were held. NLG Chicago was often unable to confirm arrestees in detention, denied timely access, and not allowed to have private attorney-client phone calls with arrestees in custody. These complications hampered efforts by NLG Chicago to ensure clients weren’t questioned, to check on their well-being, and publicly report accurate numbers of arrestees.

Throughout the week, NLG Chicago staffed a 24/7 hotline, tracked down 76 arrestees, and dispatched dozens of legal observers everyday to numerous actions to support everyone in the streets and parks fighting for justice.

On the second day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC), the Chicago Police Department (CPD) continued to use massive shows of force—far outnumbering protesters during a Palestine solidarity demonstration at the Israeli Consulate in downtown Chicago—to arrest 72 people. In response to protesters rallying and marching, police provoked confrontations, rushed the crowd, indiscriminately arrested people on the sidewalk, and entrapped groups in order to carry out mass arrests. The Chicago chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) received reports of at least two journalists arrested by CPD tonight.

“The repressive police response to a Palestine solidarity protest at the Israeli Consulate seemed preplanned and designed to stifle free expression during the Democratic National Convention,” said Ben Meyer from the Chicago chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. “Assurances that the City would respect people’s First Amendment rights during the convention rings hollow next to this brazenly aggressive approach to free expression.”

NLG Chicago deployed more than two-dozen Legal Observers to monitor police conduct and track arrests during tonight’s demonstration. With the help of Legal Observers, NLG Chicago is able to track arrestees during their detention. Arrested protesters were taken to the 19th District Police Station at Belmont and Western.

The Chicago chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is condemning the aggressive and, at times, violent response by the Chicago Police Department (CPD) toward protesters at the start of the Democratic National Convention (DNC). CPD’s response includes massive shows of force at multiple demonstrations held so far, with hundreds of police officers lining march routes and surrounding protesters. A total of 14 protesters have been arrested as of Monday night, including two on Sunday and 12 on Monday. Two protesters have needed hospitalization as a result of their arrests by CPD. 

On Sunday, CPD officers followed groups of protesters leaving a Palestine solidarity march down Michigan Avenue, later arresting two activists, one of whom was assaulted by CPD officers during their arrest, resulting in the person’s hospitalization. Another protester arrested on Monday while marching between Union Park and the United Center, where the DNC is being held, also needed hospitalization as a result of being roughed up by CPD. Members of NLG Chicago saw police follow several protesters leaving the Sunday march, arresting them in parking lots and on side streets.

Both protesters arrested on Sunday were held for hours before being allowed to speak to a lawyer, and were not allowed to make private phone calls with attorneys at the police station in violation of CPD policies and procedures and the law.

The Poor People’s Army and a protest encampment in Union Park experienced targeted harassment from CPD when members were prevented from pitching tents in city parks, despite the fact that every day the City of Chicago rightfully allows unhoused people to sleep in tents in public parks.

NLG Chicago is supporting thousands of protesters at the DNC this week by providing “Know Your Rights” trainings for activists and organizers, deploying scores of Legal Observers on the streets to monitor police conduct at protests, staffing a hotline to track and support protesters when they’re arrested, and responding to police stations to offer legal representation.