A Source Document for Illinois Justice: The Scandal of 1969 and the Rise of John Paul Stevens
The document represented below is transcribed from the original. The original source document is referenced in the book Illinois Justice: The Scandal of 1969 and the Rise of John Paul Stevens by Kenneth A. Manaster, published by the University of Chicago Press.
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NOTICE AND MOTION FILED BY SHERMAN SKOLNICK JUNE 11, 1969
No. 39797 I N T H E S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I L L I N O I S
N O T I C E.
Please take notice that on June 10, 1969, we are sending to the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Illinois, Illinois Supreme Court Building, Springfield, Illinois, to be filed, this Notice, Affidavit below, and attached Motion, copies of which are herewith served upon you.
Sherman H. Skolnick, being first duly sworn on oath, deposes and says:
No. 39797 I N T H E S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I L L I N O I S
Now come, Sherman H. Skolnick, Chairman of the Citizens' Committee to Clean Up The Courts, and Harriet Sherman, member thereof, both pro se, and move as follows: (A) For leave to appear as amici curiae in this case; (B) And, as amici curiae, request that this Court investigate the decision in the above case, as hereinafter set forth. For grounds, Sherman H. Skolnick and Harriet Sherman state: 1. Sherman H. Skolnick is Chairman of the Citizens' Committee to Clean Up the Courts, and Harriet Sherman is a staff investigator and member thereof. The said organization is a not-for-profit group devoted to research and investigation of court malpractices and judicial corruption, state and federal. The organization has an office at 9800 South Oglesby Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. 2. Some months ago, the Citizens' Committee to Clean Up the Courts (hereinafter called the Citizens' Committee), initiated a research and investigation project involving the Civic Center Bank & Trust Company, of Chicago, Illinois. The following are some of the findings of the Citizens' Committee: (a) The original stockholder list of said Bank is dated January 21, 1966, and was stamped filed February 7, 1966 and is part of the records of the Cook County Recorders Office, Chicago, Illinois. Said list shows Theodore J. Isaacs as a major stockholder of said bank and was then acting cashier. Subsequently, Isaacs became Secretary and General Counsel of said bank. (b) The appeal in this case was docketed in this Court on February 7, 1966, and appellee Isaacs' Brief was filed on or about August 3, 1966. (c) The oral argument was held September 15, 1966. Justice Ray I. Klingbiel was at that time the Chief Justice of this Court. (d) A Civic Center Bank stockholder transfer sheet, filed with the Cook County Recorder, under October 11, 1966, shows registration of 100 shares of the bank stock transferred from Theodore J. Isaacs, certificate No. 841, 200 shares, as follows - to C.E. McKittrick, 1814 Tribune Tower, Chicago, Illinois, No. 852, 50 shares; Perbohner has been a very close friend of Theodore J. Isaacs, and there are family friendships between their families for more than one generation. (e) Sometime in the fall of 1966, while this case was pending before this Court, Robert
Perbohner gave as a gift the said 100 shares to the then Chief Justice Ray I. Klingbiel. Klingbiel kept the same but did not register the transfer until two years later. According to records in
the Cook County Recorders office, there is shown the following: Klingbiel was the decision-maker and opinion-writer and exonerated Isaacs. (37 Ill. 2d 205, Opinion filed March 29, 1967, rehearing denied May 16, 1967). (f) Our inquiry, extending over a period of months prior to now, points to the involvement, by undue influence and appearance of impropriety, of both Justice Klingbiel as well as Justice Roy J. Solfisburg, Jr., and statements by Robert Perbohner tend to show that Perbohner was a conduit, or courier, for the said 100 shares from Isaacs to the opinion-writer and decision maker, Ray I. Klingbiel. (g) Justice Solfisburg was or is secretly the attorney for the Civic Center Bank, or acted through co-operation with other attorneys with, of, or for the Civic Center Bank, all the while Solfisburg was and is a Justice of this Court. (h) Among the other stockholders in the Civic Center Bank are the following - (i) Among the other stockholders in the Civic Center Bank are the following persons or organizations, publicly identified as gangsters, hoodlums, or hoodlum-fronts - John D'Arco, Pat Marcy, and "Buddy" Jacobson; (j) Also stockholders in the Civic Center Bank are: 9/20/66, from Theodore J. Isaacs, to Otto Kerner, Executive Mansion, Springfield, Illinois, 300 shares, Certificate No. 824. 3. It is the position of these amici curiae, Sherman H. Skolnick and Harriet Sherman, that there has been a fraud upon this court. This Court has inherent power to investigate the integrity of its judgments, orders, and decrees. Root Refining Co. vs. Universal Oil Prod.Co., 169 F.2d 514 (3rd Cir.,1948). Amici curiae should be allowed to assist in the investigation and unearthing of a fraud upon the court. 169 F.2d 5l4, 5l7. The decision in the instant case is tainted and is invalidated by fraud upon the court. A court has inherent power to investigate whether its judgments, orders, and decrees are tainted by fraud upon the court, and obtained by such fraud upon the court, and for that purpose may bring before it, by appropriate means, all those who may be affected by the outcome of the investigation. Universal Oil Prod.Co. vs. Root Refining Co., 328 U.S. 575, 580, 66 S.Ct.1176, 1179. 4. The circumstances under which the decision was obtained in the instant case requires an investigation. Further, the public interest requires such an investigation. WHEREFORE, Sherman H. Skolnick, chairman of the Citizens' Committee to Clean Up the Courts, and Harriet Sherman, ask as aforesaid for an investigation of the decision in this case, and that upon investigation, that the records of this court be purged of the decision in this case, and for such other procedure as the public interest demands.
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