City Council narrowly approves "snap curfew" ordinance despite opposition from Mayor Brandon Johnson
The Chicago City Council on Wednesday narrowly approved a controversial ordinance that would allow Chicago police to declare so-called "snap curfews" on as little as 30 minutes' notice in an effort to curb teen takeovers.
The 27-22 vote came despite opposition from Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has called the measure "lazy governance," arguing the city instead should do more to offer youth jobs and programming to give teens other choices besides large often aimless gatherings that have sometimes turned violent.
Johnson has not said if he will veto the ordinance, but if he does, supporters of the measure would need at least 34 votes to override a veto.
The final City Council vote on the "snap curfew" ordinance was postponed last month, setting up Wednesday's showdown.
The proposed ordinance, sponsored by Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd), would authorize Police Supt. Larry Snelling to declare temporary curfews anywhere in the city with as little as 30 minutes' notice when mass gatherings are expected or underway, and there is reason to believe they could become a risk to public safety.
Supporters have said the ordinance would allow police to break up teen takeovers before they turn violent, but Johnson and other opponents have said police already have the power to issue dispersal orders when they spot large gatherings that become disruptive or dangerous.
Critics of the proposal have said curfews are ineffective, and that the city needs to do more to offer youth safe options for youths so that they're not tempted to organize largely aimless gatherings that sometimes turn violent.
Opponents also have said the language of the ordinance is too vague, and would allow police to arrest teens without any evidence they've violated the law, since police would be allowed to impose a new curfew before any gathering has turned violent or otherwise posed a public safety threat.
Hopkins said the goal of the curfew ordinance is to prevent large gatherings of teens from turning violent by allowing police to break them up as soon as things seem to be getting out of control.
"This ordinance would actually lean into tactics, to techniques and tools that are already being used by our deputy mayor of public safety in collaboration with the Police Department," Hopkins said. "This curfew ordinance is simply one more tool in that particular toolbox. It will work because the techniques that are currently being employed actually do work."
Ald. Monique Scott (24th) said the city needs to give police more power to impose curfews, saying too many teens involved in such large gatherings don't care about the kinds of programming offered by the city and local community groups.
"The havoc wreakers don't want structure. They want to roam, and so if we allowed our police officers a tool to give them the opportunity to enforce a curfew before they see it starting, that's a tool in their toolbox, and they should be able to use it," she said.
Scott said violent teen takeovers in Chicago have reached the point that she doesn't let her own daughter go downtown.
"If I have to send my kid to Oak Brook to have a good time to go shop and eat, then that's what I'll do until the city's streets are safe. I don't want her in an area where there's no control, and the kids are doing what they want to do, and they're running up and down the streets," she said.
Mayor Johnson has said police already have the power to arrest people for committing crimes at such gatherings without relying on power to declare temporary curfews, but Hopkins argued that "this curfew is a better alternative to arresting teenagers."
"The police can arrest them. Let's give them something better where they don't have to. They'll simply take them out of this volatile dangerous situation, remove them from it, end the chaos and mayhem, and let the teenagers be safely returned to their families when a parent or guardian comes and gets them," Hopkins said. "That is much better than having to arrest them for doing the things that are in fact criminal acts."
The mayor has been outspoken in his opposition to the ordinance, saying on Tuesday, "We're debating something that doesn't work. Why are we even debating it?"
"It places too much pressure on law enforcement. I continuously say that we cannot just simply rely upon policing alone. We need people to help my administration do the things that work. When we invest in people, violent crime goes down," he said ahead of Wednesday's vote. "We cannot afford lazy governance, and then we just wash our hands, absolve ourselves of any responsibility, and say, 'Police, you do it.' That is antiquated. That form of governance is dead, and should remain dead."
Ald. Angela Clay (46th) criticized the proposal's supporters for not consulting with youth groups about potential alternatives to the snap curfew ordinance.
"It bothers me that we have a room full of young people back here, and nobody has asked them their opinion on this issue. I'm very much so dedicated that the people who are mostly impacted by what we are discussing should be at the table, making sure that they are also giving their observations and opinions on the matter," she said.
Youth advocates from Good Kids Mad City, Communities United, and other community groups rallied at City Hall on Wednesday in opposition to the snap curfew proposal.
They called on alderpeople to vote no and support a youth-led alternative known as the Peace Book Ordinance, which seeks to increase investment in youth-led violence prevention programs. It also would employ youth peacekeepers, create neighborhood-based and citywide peace commissions, and create a "Peace Book" guide of resources for de-escalation and violence prevention tactics.
Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th) has repeatedly argued that the ordinance could potentially lead to racial profiling by police, noting when he was in high school, he and his friends often got kicked out of places like Navy Pier by police, with or without a curfew.
"Every single weekend at Navy Pier, you would watch scores of young kids all getting kicked out, and police telling us to get the heck out of there," he said. "But you would also see who would not get kicked out … typically they were more affluent, typically they weren't Black and Brown, and all that did to us is make us feel like we weren't part of a community, make us feel like we were less than anybody around, and actually led more of us to engage in further activity we shouldn't be engaging in."
Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), who originally was one of Hopkins' co-sponsors on the snap curfew ordinance, pulled his support last month, after a provision was removed that would have required both Snelling and the city's deputy mayor of community safety to sign off on any snap curfews. Instead, the ordinance now up for a vote would only require Snelling to consult the deputy mayor before enforcing snap curfews, but the final decision would be solely up to the superintendent.
"This power is bestowed in one department whose interests may not necessarily be totally aligned with the interests of our entirety of the city," Ervin said on Wednesday. "Giving authority to a department that historically has not had the best interests of Black kids in its place is not something that I want to sign up for."
Complicating Wednesday's debate was Snelling's own stance on the specifics of the measure. According to published reports from WBEZ Public Radio and WTTW-TV, Snelling recently told a federal judge overseeing the federal consent decree mandating sweeping reforms at CPD that he never sought the power to impose snap curfews, and even if granted the authority, would never use it with only 30 minutes' notice.
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Protesters gather after immigration raid targets car wash in L.A. County
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Washington Post
an hour ago
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Doonesbury Comic Strips by Garry Trudeau - June 20, 2025
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CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Republicans might redraw House maps in Ohio and Texas to try to protect narrow majority
CNN — Facing the possibility of losing control of the U.S. House next year, Republicans are weighing aggressively redrawing congressional districts in two states in hopes of ousting several longtime Democratic lawmakers. In Ohio, a quirk in state law is giving Republican state legislators another run at drawing new lines for the state's 15 congressional districts. The goal would be to knock off two Democratic members of the House, giving the GOP a 12-3 advantage in the state's congressional delegation. State lawmakers could go even further and target a third Democratic seat. In Texas, meanwhile, Republicans are considering whether to hold a special legislative session to undertake a rare mid-decade map-drawing that supporters hope could result in the GOP picking up as many as five additional seats. Democrats need a net gain of just three seats to win the House, raising the stakes for Republicans and President Donald Trump, who could see a Democrat-led House block his legislative agenda and open new investigations of him in the second half of his final term. But redistricting is a double-edged sword: In drawing new lines, both states could also endanger GOP lawmakers by moving safe Republican territory into districts currently represented by Democrats. Adam Kincaid, president and executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, favors an aggressive redistricting approach. 'It's a priority to keep the House, and Republicans should be looking for as many seats as we can get,' he said. The GOP's redistricting gains in 2022 were key to the party flipping the chamber in that election and retaining their majority in 2024, he added. 'There were a handful of seats that weren't politically possible to get before that may be possible now,' he added. 'It makes sense for Republicans to try ahead of 2026.' Redrawing maps is potentially risky for GOP incumbents if 2026 proves to be a favorable year for Democrats. Republicans will have to run in a year when Trump himself is not the ballot, helping to boost conservative turnout. 'It's both a gamble and an opportunity,' said Kyle Kondik, the managing editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball, a newsletter published by University of Virginia's Center for Politics. 'From the White House's perspective, would an aggressive Texas redraw increase their chances of holding the House next year? Yeah, probably. But it wouldn't guarantee anything.' Redistricting generally happens at the start of each decade to account for population shifts and ensure that each congressional and state legislative district holds roughly the same number of people. Some Democrats have denounced the potential rounds of mid-decade map-drawing, arguing that Republicans are trying to rig the process. 'Republicans are exploring further manipulation of egregious gerrymanders in red states like Texas and Ohio for one reason: they are terrified of the voters,' said Marina Jenkins, executive director of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, in a statement. 'It's a brazenly corrupt attempt to shield themselves from accountability at the ballot box and it must be stopped.' A third redistricting battle, meanwhile, is playing out in Wisconsin where two legal actions filed last month are challenging a congressional map that favors Republicans in a battleground state that's narrowly divided along partisan lines. Both cases are before the state Supreme Court, which has a liberal majority. Texas could go after border Democrats All but one Republican member of the Texas congressional delegation won their seats with more than 60% of the vote last November. All 25 GOP-held districts voted for Trump by at least 15 points in 2024, Kondik noted. A new GOP map in Texas is likely to shift voters from safely red districts into ones held by Democrats to help boost the number of Republicans that Texas sends to Congress. Currently, under a 2021 map, Republicans control 25 of the state's 38 House seats. (One safely Democratic seat in the Houston area is vacant following the death of Rep. Sylvester Turner. The current Texas congressional maps are the subject of litigation brought by groups representing Black and Latino voters who contend the lines drawn in 2021 discriminate against voters of color.) Clear targets include Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, who represent border communities that have shifted to the right in recent years. Trump won both districts in 2024, part of a broader realignment among Latino voters. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, argued recently that an aggressive redraw could backfire on Republicans. 'If you make any changes to that map … they are going to endanger four to six Republican incumbents who are serving in the Congress right now,' he said to reporters. 'Be careful what you wish for.' Other Democrats have condemned any effort to change the district lines to further benefit the GOP. 'Texas Republicans should stand by the rule of law and the maps they drew four years ago, or they should finally work with Democrats to draw fair, independent congressional maps,' state Rep. Gene Wu, who chairs the Democratic caucus in the Texas House, said in a statement. 'Anything less is a desperate power grab from a party that knows Texas voters are ready to show them the door.' The White House did not respond to a CNN inquiry about the effort, which has been the subject of recent closed-door meetings in Washington among members of the state's congressional delegation. The state legislature, which finished its regular session earlier this month, is not scheduled to meet again until 2027. But Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has the authority to call special sessions and determine the issues lawmakers will address. Aides to the Texas governor did not respond to CNN inquiries. Last week, Abbott told reporters that he had not 'identified a need for a special session,' according to the Dallas Morning News. The governor, however, did not close the door on the possibility, saying he was reviewing bills from the regular legislative session that could result in vetoes that would require him to summon lawmakers back to Austin to address outstanding matters. Abbott also declined to tell journalists whether Trump had asked him to order a redraw. Ohio GOP looks for as many as three seats In Ohio, the mid-decade redrawing of its congressional districts is an outgrowth of a state law that requires maps approved without bipartisan support to be redrawn after four years. Crafting new maps for next year's midterms will ultimately fall to the Republican-controlled General Assembly. The current map, crafted by a GOP-led legislature in 2022, has 10 Republicans and five Democrats. Two Democratic incumbents are viewed as likely targets of the GOP: Reps. Marcy Kaptur, a veteran lawmaker who represents northwestern Ohio, and Emilia Skyes, whose district includes Akron. Last year, Kaptur eked out a win even as her district went for Trump. Skyes, meanwhile, represents a highly competitive district that former Vice President Kamala Harris barely won. If Republicans choose an even more aggressive approach, a third Democrat, Rep. Greg Landsman, who represents Cincinnati, could be endangered.
