Crime & Law
Illinois Supreme Court to Hear Arguments Sept. 24 on Whether Serious CPD Discipline Hearings Must Take Place in Public
The Illinois Supreme Court is pictured in Springfield. (Jerry Nowicki / Capitol News Illinois)
The Illinois Supreme Court will hold oral arguments at 9 a.m. Sept. 24 on whether Chicago police officers accused of serious misconduct have the right to ask an arbitrator — and not the Chicago Police Board — to decide their fate in public proceedings.
The system Chicago officials used for 60 years to hold officers accused of the most egregious misconduct has been frozen for the past two and a half years amid a protracted legal dispute between the city and the city’s largest police union.
Until the Supreme Court rules, 31 cases will remain in limbo — including three that seek to terminate officers who caused the deaths of Chicagoans, including the officer that shot and killed 13-year-old Adam Toledo in 2021, records show.
The most recent officer to face termination is Officer Joseph Vecchio, who made false statements under oath about two separate traffic stops, former Chicago Police Department Supt. Larry Snelling and the Chicago Police Board concluded, records show.
Four other officers face lengthy suspensions or terminations for using excessive force against members of the public, police board records show.
In August 2025, an appeals court upheld Cook County Judge Michael Mullen’s March 2024 ruling that allowing cases that could result in officers being fired or suspended for more than a year to take place behind closed doors goes “against a dominant and well-defined public policy.”
That decision upheld the effort backed by the city’s largest police union to upend Chicago’s police disciplinary system but affirmed a ruling that rejected the Fraternal Order of Police’s demand that an arbitrator decide behind closed doors whether officers facing serious allegations of misconduct should be terminated or suspended for more than a year.
The Chicago Police Board holds its meetings in public and allows input from Chicagoans, while arbitrations traditionally take place behind closed doors and are not open to public scrutiny.
Once the legal fight is over, it will likely take months for city officials to set up a new system to work through the backlog of cases.
The Supreme Court will also decide whether the city can stop paying officers accused of serious misconduct while the disciplinary process continues.
Five members of the seven-member court are Democrats, records show.
Police Board President Kyle Cooper said he looked forward to oral arguments finally taking place in this case.
“Whatever the Illinois Supreme Court decides, the Board remains ready to do its job: hear the evidence, apply the law, protect the rights of accused officers, hold officers accountable for proven misconduct, and give the public confidence that the most serious police disciplinary cases are decided fairly and on their merits,” Cooper said in a statement.
For more than a year, Cooper has been pleading with officers to allow the Police Board to decide their fate. Only two officers have agreed to do so; both were convicted of criminal offenses and are prohibited from continuing to work as law enforcement officers.
“Officers should not have to spend years with serious charges hanging over them,” Cooper said. “Alleged victims should not have to wait years for resolution. And Chicago residents should not have to wait years to learn whether serious allegations against a public servant have been proven.”
A spokesperson for the Law Department and mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara said the right of public sector employees to have allegations of misconduct resolved by an arbitrator in private is well established in state law.
“If the city and state legislature would like to rescind the law and give police the right to strike, we will drop the appeal immediately,” Catanzara said.
WTTW News coverage of policing and police reform is supported by The Joyce Foundation.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
