On October 28, 1969, a lawsuit entitled Michael Shakman, et al. v. Democratic Organization of Cook County, et al., No. 69 C 2145 (N.D. Ill.) was filed seeking the court to prohibit Cook County and the Board of Commissioners of Cook County ("County Board"), among other defendants, from conditioning, basing or affecting any term or aspect of governmental employment upon or because of any political reason or factor.

On May 5, 1972 and January 7, 1994, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois entered Consent Judgments with respect to, among others, the County and County Board, prohibiting the conditioning, basing or affecting any term or aspect of governmental employment upon or because of any political reason or factor. Those Judgments provided that the Court retained jurisdiction with respect to, among other matters, issues of political hiring and the designation of a number of positions which should be exempt from the prohibitions established under the Consent Judgments.

On November 29, 2006, the Board of Commissioners of Cook County agreed to the entry of a Supplemental Relief Order (SRO) by the District Court. On December 7, 2006, the court entered an order (Preliminary Approval Order) preliminarily approving the Supplemental Relief Order agreed to by the plaintiffs and Cook County. The District Court approved the SRO at the hearing held on February 2, 2007

Supplemental Order
If the Supplemental Relief Order receives final approval by the court, the legal rights of class members will be affected. Please refer to the Supplemental Relief Order and Notice of Public Hearing for further information.
The District Court approved the SRO at the hearing held on February 2, 2007

Executed Supplemental Order (PDF)
("cc_shakman_supporder_11-06.pdf" - 1.2 MB)

For More Information
You may obtain a copy of the SRO and other related forms from the County website at www.co.cook.il.us (on this page) and from the Shakman Compliance Administrator’s website at www.countyshakman.com.

You can also obtain copies from:

• Patrick Blanchard, counsel for Cook County, State's Attorney's Office
  500 Richard J. Daley Center, Chicago, IL 60602
• Roger Fross, counsel for the plaintiff classes, Lord, Bissell & Brook LLP
  111 South Wacker Drive, Suite 4100, Chicago, Illinois 60606
• Julia M. Nowicki, Shakman Compliance Administrator
  300 South Wacker Drive, Suite 1700B, Chicago, IL 60606