Opinion ID: 2436331
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: State Law Must Create Property Interest

Text: ¶ 12 The court of appeals promulgated the certified questions based on a familiar analytical framework. The due process clause of the fourteenth amendment protects against the deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. U.S. Const., amend. XIV. The fourteenth amendment's procedural protection of property is a safeguard of property interests that a person has already acquired in specific benefits. Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 576, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972). Of course, the federal Constitution does not create property interests. `Rather, they are created and their dimensions are defined by existing rules or understandings that stem from an independent source such as state lawrules or understandings that secure certain benefits and that support claims of entitlement to those benefits.' Wilson v. Bishop, 82 Ill.2d 364, 368-69, 45 Ill.Dec. 171, 412 N.E.2d 522 (1980) (quoting Roth, 408 U.S. at 577, 92 S.Ct. 2701). `Therefore, the starting point in any procedural due process analysis is a determination of whether one of those protectable interests is present, for if there is not, no process is due.' Wilson, 82 Ill.2d at 368, 45 Ill.Dec. 171, 412 N.E.2d 522 (quoting Polyvend, Inc. v. Puckorius, 77 Ill.2d 287, 293-94, 32 Ill.Dec. 872, 395 N.E.2d 1376 (1979)); see Buttitta v. City of Chicago, 9 F.3d 1198, 1201 (7th Cir.1993) (same). ¶ 13 Whether a property interest is protectable under the fourteenth amendment is ultimately a question of federal constitutional law. However, resolution of the federal issue begins with a determination of what state law provides. Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 545 U.S. 748, 756-57, 125 S.Ct. 2796, 162 L.Ed.2d 658 (2005); id. at 771, 125 S.Ct. 2796 (Souter, J., concurring, joined by Breyer, J.) (the federal process protects the property created by state law). State law can create a property interest in employment. Fumarolo v. Chicago Board of Education, 142 Ill.2d 54, 106, 153 Ill.Dec. 177, 566 N.E.2d 1283 (1990); see Buttitta, 9 F.3d at 1202 (same). Therefore, the court of appeals asks this court whether the School Code grants laid-off tenured teachers any statutory rights.