United States Seventh Circuit

In an action involving petitions for executive clemency, district court ruling is reversed with instructions to dismiss the suit with prejudice where: 1) there is no Fourteenth Amendment property or liberty interest in obtaining a pardon in Illinois and thus no ground for a claim of denial of due process for failure to make a reasonably prompt decision on a clemency petition; and 2) state law does not create a requirement of prompt action by the governor on a clemency petition.

Appellate Information

• Argued 02/17/2009
• Decided 04/02/2009
• Published 04/02/2009

Judges

• POSNER, Circuit Judge., Before POSNER, KANNE, and WOOD, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Seventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Charles C. Jackson, Attorney (argued), Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiffs-Appellees., J. Timothy Eaton, Attorney (argued), Shefsky & Froelich, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellant.