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Illinois overstepped its authority when it enacted
legislation to fight genocide in Sudan, a federal judge ruled last week.
The Act to End Atrocities and Terrorism in the Sudan
— a response by the Legislature to mass killings in Darfur —
interferes with the federal government’s authority to set foreign
policy, said U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly in a ruling issued on
Friday. Kennelly agreed with plaintiffs in the case, led by
the National Foreign Trade Council, who argued that the far-reaching
divestiture law was unconstitutional. The law required state pension funds to be 100
percent free of investments in companies that do business in Sudan by this
summer. It was considered the most restrictive Sudan-related divestiture
law in the United States. Attorney General Lisa Madigan argued that the
act’s intent was not to set the direction for U.S. policy but instead
to break the state’s ties with the nation in which “grave
human-rights abuses” are currently taking place. Kennelly, in his ruling, described the Illinois act
as inflexible: “The state has chosen a more heavy-handed approach
than the national government.”
State Sen. Jacqueline Y. Collins, D-Chicago, the
act’s sponsor, says that the ruling won’t have an adverse
impact on the Sudan-divestment movement. “Technical changes” to
the act should address the judge’s concerns, she adds. William Reinsch, NFTC’s executive director,
says the council will now write other states who have passed similar
measures to apprise them of Kennelly’s decision “There’s no question it’s a
genocide. Our member companies are trying to stop it,” he says.
“We didn’t agree with the state of Illinois on how best to do
that.”
Contact R.L. Nave at rnave@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Feb 22-28, 2007.
