Troopers Lodge No 41 Fraternal Order of Police v. Walker, 74-350
| Citation | 419 U.S. 1058,95 S.Ct. 642,42 L.Ed.2d 656 |
| Decision Date | 09 December 1974 |
| Docket Number | No. 74-350,74-350 |
| Parties | TROOPERS LODGE NO. 41 FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE et al. v. Daniel WALKER, etc., et al |
| Court | United States Supreme Court |
On petition for writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of Illinois.
The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied.
The petitioners are members of the Illinois State Police who, joined by their fraternal organization, challenge an Illinois regulatory program that requires disclosure of financial transactions and associations by state employees. The program was created by an executive order of the Governor of Illinois. The order established a State Board of Ethics, empowered to require designated state employees to file an annual Statement of Economic Interest, which discloses assets and liabilities, each source of income and the amount received therefrom, and each 'close economic association,' which is defined as a 'busi- ness or professional entity with which the person is associated as an officer, employee, director, or partner, or in which he has a substantial interest.' The foregoing disclosures must be made not only by the employee himself, but by members of his immediate family sharing his household. Information so reported is open to 'reasonable public inspection.' Failure to make the required disclosures subjects the employee to disciplinary action, including discharge.
The Executive Order applies by its terms only to members of the executive branch. Were this the only element of the Illinois scheme to discourage conflict of interests among those who hold public office, I believe a substantial equal protection question would be presented. The State has an undeniably strong interest in placing beyond question the integrity of its public service. But this is an interest that applies to all branches of the government, and where a State singles out a target group of employees, it is arguably compelled by the Equal Protection Clause to justify the differential treatment. The Illinois program, however, is greater than the Executive Order and I add this word because it is not discussed in the briefs nor in the opinion in this case. The Illinois Governmental Ethics Act, passed in 1972, in addition to prescribing a 'code of conduct' for legislators, requires the disclosure of 'economic interest' by members of the legislature and independent agencies, Ill.Rev.Stat. c. 127, § 601-101 et seq.1 Criminal penalties are provided for the...
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Opinion of the Justices to the Senate
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