Former Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill last December cutting the 12-person jury in half which took effect in June 2015. However, Judge Gomolinski wrote that language in Section 1, Article 13 of the 1970 state constitution — “The right to trial by jury as heretofore enjoyed shall remain inviolate” — means that the right to a jury as it existed in 1970, with 12 jurors, cannot be changed without a constitutional amendment.
That’s not to say a case can’t operate with a smaller juror size if the parties agree to it, Gomolinski ruled. But litigants maintain a constitutional right to demand a 12-person jury in their case. Gomolinski wrote that, with the exception of eliminating civil cases before justices of the peace in 1962, “the right to a trial by [j]ury in Illinois has been a continuous, unbroken right spanning well over a century of this state’s history.”
Counsel for defendants filed jury-demand motions with the circuit clerk requesting 12-person juries. Those motions were denied. Counsel then moved for leave to file a 12-person jury demand with the court. Circuit Judge James P. Flannery Jr., presiding judge in the Law Division, recognized there should be uniform treatment of the motions and assigned Gomolinski to handle the legal arguments.