02 / 2023
By Edward N. Tiesenga
Originally published by the DuPage County Bar Association, reprinted with permission
The Illinois Constitution of 1970
This article sketches out a historical-legal biography of the so-called "pension clause" of the Illinois Constitution, the key lawyers who wrote it, and how that single sentence operates today. For a more exhaustive scholarly treatment of the Illinois Constitution that was completely revamped in 1970, the reader may consult much heavier works.
History – Big and Small
Let’s set the historical stage. Richard Nixon is President of the United States, and the first trip to the Moon is still fresh in the public mind. Kennedy half-dollars have only been available for six years. Grim Communism still rules Russia, Eastern Europe, and China. The Vietnam war is on. Led Zeppelin has been a band for just two years. Halfway around the world, in the former Dutch colony of Jakarta, Barack Obama has just celebrated his ninth birthday. Richard B. Ogilvie is Governor of Illinois.
There is also a constitutional convention going on in Illinois. And DuPage County figures right in the middle of it.
Key Role of Two Republican DuPage County Attorneys
Helen Kinney was a DuPage County Assistant States Attorney (1962-69) and later circuit judge (the first woman to hold either position in DuPage). Kinney was also a Republican party activist, whose name is now on the annual scholarship award given by the DuPage Association of Women Lawyers (DAWL) to an outstanding female law student in DuPage County each year.
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