Judges Order Government Spending without Representation in Illinois

However, the news media and their investigative apparatuses have overlooked a fundamental facet of institutional decay in the General Assembly. Despite Illinois’ Constitution vesting the entire appropriations power in the Illinois legislature, an undercurrent of judge-ordered spending has been flowing beneath the surface of the state’s budget.

This means that, contrary to the design of the State Constitution, parts of the taxing and spending powers of the legislature have been placed in different hands. Splitting responsibility for these powers is a recipe for disaster because it undermines government accountability. The government is only the servant of the people when the electoral process empowers taxpayers to hold their representatives accountable.

There is also a constitutional convention going on in Illinois. And DuPage County figures right in the middle of it.

Judges’ Power-Grab

Our research revealed that Illinois legislators have acquiesced to a power-grab by the federal and state judiciary. In lawsuits against the state and its officials, judges have ordered—or approved settlement agreements reached by plaintiffs and defendants in the form of consent decrees—to spend taxpayers’ funds not appropriated, or in ways not approved, by the legislature.