Cook courts to remain open during shutdown days, per Illinois Supreme Court

Cook County courts won’t be able to close during four county shutdown days approved last month by the county board, says the state’s highest court.

Last month, the county board approved President Toni Preckwinkle’s cost-saving proposal to shut down county government — including the Rolling Meadows courthouse and six others — for four days as part of a $3.1 million 2011 budget.

However, the Illinois Supreme Court indicated it would not approve a shutdown of the courts, citing a constitutional mandate requiring they remain open, Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans said in a statement Tuesday.

After the budget was approved, Evans summarized what he referred to as the proposed “shutdown” in a letter to justices, said Supreme Court spokesman Joseph Tybor. That led to a meeting between Cook County justices Charles E. Freeman, Anne M. Burke and Mary Jane Theis and staff members from the office of the chief judge, who was on vacation at the time, Tybor said. All seven justices discussed the proposal in a conference call, during which they agreed it would be inappropriate and improper to close the courts for four days, Tybor said.

Chief Justice Thomas Kilbride sent Evans a letter expressing the court’s sensitivity to the financial burden Cook County faces and outlining the court’s position, Tybor said.

“I’m confident that your continued collaboration with county representatives regarding cost-saving strategies will yield an appropriate outcome,” Kilbride wrote, according to Tybor.

Preckwinkle’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Evans said the courts will still proceed with 10 total furlough days, as mandated countywide, while making sure that does not shutter the courthouses.