Last month, U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly ruled
that the Sexually Explicit Video Game Law enacted by the Illinois State
Legislature was unconstitutional
and a violation of the First Amendment. Judge Kennelly ordered Illinois
Gov. Rod Blagojevich to pay the legal costs of the
video-game industry, which amounted to $510,528.64.
The Governor then took a path of
non-action, while thousands of dollars in interest piled onto the sum. Kennelly
then told Blagojevich "the time for waffling has passed," and
proceeded to order the state to pay up. The judge set a hearing date January 30
if the bill isn’t paid.
"They have answered the plaintiffs' entreaties with
what amounts to shoulder-shrugging and finger-pointing," U.S. District
Judge Matthew Kennelly wrote in an
opinion. "Specifically, they have made no real suggestion about what the
plaintiffs need to do to collect what they are entitled to, largely leaving
that up to one's imagination."
The Associated Press now
reports Blagojevich's administration has announced that the legal
fees it owes will be paid by late January. The Governor’s lawyers have filed
documents indicating that the state would pay $520,000, which will come
from unspent money in the budgets of several of Blagojevich's agencies.
