CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A Cook County judge presiding over the vaccine mandate dispute between the city and the police union has declined to step aside - as the union had wanted her to do.
Cook County Circuit Judge Cecilia Horan ruled last week that Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara has to stop encouraging police officers to ignore the city’s requirement that they disclose their vaccination status.
The union filed a motion asking Horan to recuse herself because of her former law firm’s involvement in a task force that helped craft a consent decree aimed at overhauling the police force a few years ago, the Associated Press reports.
During a Zoom hearing addressing the matter, Judge Horan cut short comments by union lawyer Joel D’Alba, who addressed Chicago Corporation Counsel Celia Meza directly, saying: “You have a police department in chaos.”
As D’Alba paused, Cook County Judge Cecilia Horan said, “OK, OK, listen - I don’t want to start this,” and the judge encouraged a direct conversation later.
Horan issued a temporary restraining order on Catanzara last week.
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