The Dirksen Courthouse is pictured in Chicago. (Capitol News Illinois)

The federal judge who ruled Ald. Jim Gardiner (45th Ward) violated the First Amendment by blocking six critics from his official Facebook page admonished him Friday for approaching her in June at a funeral even as the case remains pending.

U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman said she was attending the June funeral of U.S. District Court Judge Harry Leinenweber with the other judges who worked alongside the renowned jurist at the Dirksen courthouse when Gardiner approached her.

“He approached me and said, ‘Hi, judge,’ and introduced himself,” Johnson Coleman said, adding that she was not initially sure who the Far Northwest Side alderperson was or how she knew him. 

Gardiner was not present for Friday’s brief status hearing in the lawsuit that was filed more than three years ago and has yet to be resolved. Gardiner, who rarely speaks to the news media, did not respond to a text message seeking comment from WTTW News.

Johnson Coleman told Gardiner’s attorney, Brian Wilson of Nathan & Kamionski LLP, to tell the alderperson that his behavior was inappropriate. Wilson agreed to do so.

“That should not have happened,” Johnson Coleman said. “He should not have done that. It shouldn’t have happened.”

Johnson Coleman said the judicial code of ethics that governs her behavior required her to disclose the incident in open court.

Federal rules prohibit judges from communicating with lawyers, defendants or plaintiffs who have a matter pending before them to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Prohibiting what is known as an ex-parte communication ensures that the judicial process is fair, and all parties have the same information as the judge who will be deciding the case.

Nearly a year ago, Johnson Coleman ruled “that Gardiner engaged in both content-based and speaker-based restrictions on his Facebook page,” by deleting and hiding “comments from disfavored constituents voicing opposing political beliefs and even went as far as to block some of those constituents.”

That violated the First Amendment, Johnson Coleman ruled.

Johnson Coleman ruled that the evidence presented by the six residents of the Far Northwest Side ward who were blocked by Gardiner — James Suh, Steve Held, Pete Czosnyka, Peter Barash, Adam Vavrick and Dominick Maino — was so overwhelming that a trial on the merits of their claim was not necessary.

The judge, appointed to the federal bench by former President Barack Obama, had been set to preside over a trial scheduled for Sept. 9 that would determine how much, if anything, Gardiner would have to pay to those he blocked from his Facebook page.

But Johnson Coleman’s ruling was based on a framework, set by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, that was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in March, requiring her to scrap that decision and start from scratch.

The Supreme Court found that judges can hold public officials responsible for blocking people from their social media accounts after performing a test to establish whether the official had the actual authority to speak on the state’s behalf and exercised that authority on social media, Johnson Coleman wrote.

Johnson Coleman’s initial ruling upheld a 2019 advisory opinion issued by the Chicago Board of Ethics that warned members of the City Council who use social media to communicate with constituents and city residents that they should not block people from following their accounts or delete comments critical of them or their positions.

The Supreme Court’s decision led both sides to resume settlement negotiations, and progress has been made, even if no deal has been reached, according to Wilson and Adele Nicholas, the lawyer for the plaintiffs.

Johnson Coleman set another hearing for Sept. 17 and put both sides on notice she plans to move expeditiously to trial if necessary.

“I want this to be done,” Johnson Coleman said. “This should have been settled and done a while ago.”

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability found that Czosnyka spent a night in jail in November 2018 after being arrested by Chicago police after a community meeting held by Gardiner.

Czosnyka was subjected to “an improper campaign of harassment” after criticizing a Far Northwest Side business group on Facebook for the group’s response to the conviction of a White Chicago police officer for the 2014 murder of Laquan McDonald, a Black teen, according to evidence gathered by the agency charged with investigating police misconduct.

In addition, the Chicago Board of Ethics fined Gardiner $20,000 for retaliating against Czosnyka by directing a city employee to issue “unfounded citations” in September 2019 that could have forced Czosnyka to pay more than $600 in fines.

Chicago taxpayers paid $100,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a man who claimed he was wrongfully arrested at Gardiner’s request after finding a cell phone that belonged to a close associate of the alderperson, records show. That associate is now facing charges he tried to sell an illegal machine gun while working for the city.

WTTW News reported in September 2021 that federal agents are probing whether Gardiner took bribes and demanded payments before taking official actions. He has not been charged.

Gardiner apologized in September 2021 for sending profane and misogynistic texts to a former aide about former Ald. Tom Tunney (44th Ward) and two women who work at City Hall.

Gardiner was reelected to the City Council in 2023.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]