‘De facto invisible’: High costs, court rules, lack of online access can block public from monitoring ‘public’ court proceedings – Cook County Record

Cook County's courts have steadfastly refused to grant the public remote access to any court files or records. Lawyers who operate within the court system enjoy such access, demonstrating the court has the ability to do so. The public, however, must still travel to physical courthouses in Chicago and elsewhere in the county to access records about cases and criminal charges pending in the largest court system in Illinois, which has 3.9 million active case files still pending.