If you heard a large sigh of relief throughout Illinois today it was not the wind, it was the release of an Illinois Supreme Court opinion.
The Illinois Supreme Court released its opinion in Kakos v. Butler, 2016 IL 120377 and the court unanimously held the new law limiting civil juries to 6 people is unconstitutional and an infringement on the right to trial by jury. Public Act 98-1132 went into effect on June 1, 2015 and it limited the size of civil juries to 6 people.
The Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel (www.iadtc.org) is a great source for Illinois law updates and their announcement described the opinion as follows:
The court held that a jury of twelve was what was “heretofore enjoyed” as existed at common law and under earlier constitutions and what the framers of the 1970 Illinois constitution intended should remain “inviolate.” The floor debates during the 1970 Constitutional Convention showed that the framers specifically considered and rejected an amendment that would have allowed the General Assembly to reduce the size of civil juries. The amendment violated article I, § 13 because it took away the right to a jury of twelve. Having determined that the amendment was facially unconstitutional based on the right of trial by jury, the court did not need to consider whether the amendment also constituted a violation of separation of powers. Finally, the court held that the entire Act was invalid as the provision regarding juror pay was not severable from the provision which limited the size of jurors.
A copy of the opinion is attached.