IN RE: )
)
SPECIAL SESSIONS TO HOLD COURT ) General Order No. 18-05
OUT OF DISTRICT DUE TO INHABITABILITY )
OF ROCK ISLAND COURTHOUSE )
ORDER
The United States Courthouse in Rock Island, Illinois is uninhabitable due to unsafe conditions,
including an intractable mold infestation, reoccurring flooding, and harmful air quality. These
conditions are adversely affecting the health of employees and the public. The closest United
States Courthouse in the Central District of Illinois is located in Peoria, a 200 mile round trip
drive from the Rock Island Courthouse with no public transportation available to travel the
distance. The closest United States courthouse in an adjacent district is located in Davenport,
Iowa, a 3 mile round trip drive from the Rock Island Courthouse. Therefore, no location within
the District is reasonably available to provide public access to the courts and it is necessary to
conduct special sessions of the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois,
Rock Island Division outside of the District.
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that pursuant to the Federal Judiciary Emergency Special Sessions
Act of 2005, 28 U.S.C. § 141, because no location within the District is reasonably available, the
United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois, Rock Island Division, will
conduct special sessions, as specified below, at the United States Southern District of Iowa
Courthouse in Davenport, Iowa, effective immediately.
Any business that may be transacted at a regular session of the District Court in Rock Island may
be transacted at a special session conducted at the United States Southern District of Iowa
Courthouse in Davenport, Iowa, except that a criminal trial may not be conducted outside the
district in which the crime has been committed unless the defendant consents to such a criminal
trial. In any criminal trial in which a special session is conducted outside the District, the Court
may summon jurors from any part of the District in which the crime has been committed and, if
the defendant so consents, from the District in which the Court is conducting business under this
order. In any civil proceeding in which a special session is conducted outside the District, the
Court may summon jurors from any part of the District in which the Court ordinarily conducts
business or the District in which the Court is conducting business under this order.
ENTERED this 26th day of September, 2018
S/James E. Shadid
___________________________________
JAMES E. SHADID
CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
