Cook County Criminal Courts Aren't Shut Down
The Claim
Cook County criminal courts have been “shut down” for fifteen months.
News posted on
Emerging story
On June 28, 2021, Mayor of Chicago Lori Lightfoot said that Cook County “criminal courts have been shut down for 15 months.”
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found that Cook County did suspend jury trials at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and all but the most urgent cases were postponed. As of July 6, 2020, criminal court cases resumed via Zoom, and other operations continued as usual. The following is taken from the Cook County Resumption of Court Operations and Services Plan.
And the court’s operating schedule for June 2021, when Lightfoot made the claim that the court had been shut down for fifteen months, is below.
There is currently a huge backlog of Cook County felony cases, but that is not the same as being “shut down.”
