ORDER
WHEREAS, the City of Chicago, through its Municipal Code, provides for an office of corporation counsel, who is to "[a]ppear for and protect the rights and interests of the city in all actions, suits and proceedings brought by or against it;" and
WHEREAS, in that capacity, the City's Corporation Counsel has initiated or participated in legal actions to protect the interests of Chicagoans; and
WHEREAS, some of these actions have involved federal matters and parties including the United States Attorney General (Attorney General); and
WHEREAS, the Attorney General is the head of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and is the federal government's chief law enforcement officer; and
WHEREAS, as head of the legal department of one of the United States' largest cities, the Corporation Counsel has an interest in ensuring that the Attorney General with whom at any point he or she may be collaborating or opposing is duly appointed; and
WHEREAS, on November 7, 2018 then-Attorney General Jefferson Sessions resigned; and
WHEREAS, that announcement was followed by a tweet from the President announcing that the Acting Attorney General would be Mr. Sessions' chief of staff, Matthew G. Whitaker; and
WHEREAS, on Tuesday, November 13, 2018, the Maryland Attorney General filed a motion in an ongoing action against the federal government seeking to enjoin Whitaker's appearance as Acting Attorney General and to instead substitute Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein; and
WHEREAS, the motion was made in Maryland's pending action seeking compliance with a key provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA); and
WHEREAS, specifically, Maryland's arguments include that the Attorney General must be a Senate-confirmed official and that the Attorney General Succession Act provides that if the office of the Attorney General is vacant, the Deputy Attorney General is authorized to exercise the duties of the office; and
WHEREAS, in so doing, Maryland notes that Whitaker's appointment "is unlawful"...
Click here for full text