Responding to Supreme Court, lawmakers look to expand lawsuit
protections for press
[May 24, 2025]
By Bridgette Fox and UIS Public Affairs Reporting (PAR)
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois lawmakers are seeking to extend lawsuit
protections to regular news reports following a recent ruling by the
state’s Supreme Court that allowed a defamation suit against the Chicago
Sun-Times to progress.
The measure, Senate Bill 1181, would explicitly name the press in an
existing state law that aims to protect against “strategic lawsuits
against public participation,” otherwise known as SLAPP lawsuits.
The case that inspired the legislation was brought against the Sun-Times
after the paper published multiple articles about investigations into
the former executive director of the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board.
The Sun-Times had obtained a copy of a complaint made to the Office of
the Executive Inspector General against Mauro Glorioso, a former chair
of PTAB who later became its executive director.
The complaint, which has since been ruled unfounded by the OEIG, claimed
that Glorioso, a Republican, told staff “he wanted a large reduction in
the assessment of Trump Tower because the owner of the property was the
president of the United States.”
Staff at PTAB had not initially recommended reducing property taxes but
ultimately altered their decision to recommend a $1 million reduction.
An administrative judge later said that decision was made to rectify an
overassessment that occurred in 2011, and the recommendation to reduce
the assessment was upheld by an appellate court in 2023.
Glorioso sued the newspaper in 2021, claiming he was defamed and that
the paper’s coverage mischaracterized the OEIG investigation, misstated
Glorioso’s motivation as political and overstated his involvement in the
decision.
Lawyers from the Chicago Sun-Times sought dismissal under the 2007
Citizen Participation Act that defines a SLAPP suit as frivolous
litigation that “chills and diminishes citizen participation in
government.”
More than three years after Glorioso initially filed his suit, the court
ruled in November that the Sun-Times’ articles weren’t investigations,
which would have been protected under the law. Instead, the court wrote,
the articles were news reports about something a government agency was
doing and lacked any intent to elicit action or a solution from the
government – which was needed for SLAPP protections to be applicable.
The court’s opinion also said there wasn’t any mention of the press or
news media in the act, so they allowed the lawsuit to continue at the
lower court level.
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The Illinois Capitol overlooks the state Supreme Court building in
Springfield. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Jerry Nowicki)
“This is not to minimize or understate the importance of the press and
other news media in our democracy,” Justice David K. Overstreet wrote in
the opinion. “Our jurisprudence is replete with privileges and other
protections designed to protect these concerns, many of which remain at
issue in this lawsuit. We are simply holding that the (Citizen
Participation) Act specifically protects government participation and
does not encompass all media reports on matters of public concern.”
SB 1181 directly addresses that sentiment. The bill states, “The press
opining, reporting, or investigating matters of public concern is
participating and communicating with the government,” meaning
organizations doing so would be protected under the law if the bill
passes.
The measure also provides that all legal proceedings in a case,
including discovery, would be stayed while a party’s Citizen
Participation Act lawsuit motion progresses in court.
Rep. Dan Ugaste, R-Geneva, voiced concerns on the House floor about that
provision.
“I believe we’re going to have a unintended impact of actually harming
individuals who are just trying to protect themselves from what could be
very irresponsible journalism, all under the guise of protecting the
constitutional right of the freedom of the press,” Ugaste said before he
urged a “no” vote.
Rep. Dan Didech, D-Buffalo Grove, explained the reasoning behind the
provision.
“We are amending the statute so there still has to be a nexus to that
exercise of constitutional rights, but the conduct does not have to be
solely related to that exercise,” Didech said.
The bill cleared the Senate 55-1 in April and passed the House with a
minor amendment on a vote of 75-38. Because of the amendment, it heads
back to the Senate before it can be sent to the governor.
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by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. |
