The mayor and city council are attempting to revamp a law that has been distorted and struck down so many times, that no one know if it would actually be applicable:
- Chicago aldermen on Thursday advanced a plan to change the city’s disorderly conduct ordinance in a way they argued could help police disperse crowds at gang funerals as part of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s get-tough stance on the gatherings.
The new provision would allow “public safety officials to address a situation that threatens the public health, safety or welfare,” and Ald. Ameya Pawar, 47th, asked city attorneys how that squares with Emanuel’s pledge to treat gang funerals like “a gang event.”
“Under the right circumstances, I think it could apply,” replied Jeff Levine of the city's Law Department during a City Council Public Safety Committee hearing on the disorderly conduct statute.
Great. A "lawyer" from the "Law Department" thinks it "could apply."
Well, gee whiz, that's a fucking relief. Especially seeing as how the lawyers and aldercreatures aren't the ones whose homes and livelihoods are on the line enforcing an ordinance a "trained lawyer" won't even say is ironclad when it appears in Federal Court.
And not to put too fine a point on it, the city's "Law Department" doesn't exactly have the best track record in front of federal magistrates, appellate courts or the US Supreme Court.