Chicago is not Detroit – a tale of two cities and bankruptcy

Lawyers' Forum

By Joseph A. Kearney and Ann M. Lousin

Joseph A. Kearney is an associate director of career services at The John Marshall Law School, an adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Public Services at DePaul University, and partner at the law firm of Corral, Kearney & Cho, LLP. He is the author of a forthcoming article in The John Marshall Law Review on the subject of home rule.

Ann. M. Lousin is a law professor at The John Marshall Law School and an expert on the 1970 Illinois Constitutional Convention. She was the 2013-2014 Edward T. and Noble W. Lee Chair in Constitutional Law at John Marshall.

Posted May 27, 2015 3:02 PM

If you Google “Chicago” and “Detroit” together, you will find dozens of dire predictions about Chicago as “the next Detroit.” Detroit recently emerged from a Chapter 9 bankruptcy, and many commentators believe Chicago will soon seek permission of the Illinois General Assembly to file for bankruptcy, too.“The new junk city,” screams a Bloomberg headline. “Chicago is on the road to Detroit,” warns the Chicago Tribune editorial board. Are the doomsayers right …

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