Right to Free Speech Protected

Days before the March 2008 Primary Election, a candidate for Cook County State’s Attorney filed suit against an organization of voters contending that a radio advertisement being run by the organization was false and defamatory. On less than 12 hours’ notice, we successfully defended against the candidate’s efforts to prevent our client from running the political advertisement. We cited decisions of the United States Supreme Court and the Illinois Supreme Court holding that courts should not restrain political speech, and we also argued that the allegations made in the radio advertisement were true. The trial judge denied the temporary restraining order, stating in his ruling that “politics is a contact sport” (especially in Chicago).