Effingham County state's attorney signs onto amicus brief in Seventh Circuit assault‑weapons appeal

Aaron, Effingham County state's attorney, told the county board at its July regular meeting that he and several other state's attorneys filed an amicus, or "friend of the court," brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in a federal appeal concerning an assault‑weapons restriction.

Aaron said the county is not a party to the litigation but joined other state's attorneys to raise concerns about the statute's constitutionality. "We are not part of the appeal," he said. "We are just writing a friend of the court brief... we essentially submit that, we have issues with what we believe is, the Second Amendment and the constitutionality as it relates to that statute." He said the Madison County state's attorney took the lead on the filing and that the county will await the Seventh Circuit’s decision.

A board member asked how the brief was funded; Aaron said participating state's attorneys perform this work as part of their duties and are paid by their counties with state reimbursement where applicable. "We're not really a party to the litigation... it's just state's attorneys who are, paid by their county and by the state through the reimbursement," he said.

Aaron said the county had previously filed or joined similar filings when comparable questions reached the Illinois Supreme Court; the board did not take separate action on the matter during the meeting.