Opinion ID: 2077498
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Prohibition and Issues of Inferior Jurisdiction

Text: Cook County also contends that the writ of prohibition may not issue unless a petitioner's arguments concern the jurisdiction of an inferior tribunal ( People ex rel. No. 3 J. & E. Discount, Inc. v. Whitler (1980), 81 Ill.2d 473, 480) and that the Board has clear jurisdiction and authority to determine who is a public employer or joint employer. As we explained in Whitler (81 Ill.2d at 479-80), one of the four conditions for issuance of a writ of prohibition is that the action sought to be prohibited must be either outside the jurisdiction of the tribunal or, if within its jurisdiction, beyond its legitimate authority.  (Emphasis added.) Though their jurisdictional argument is somewhat confusingly stated, the four chief judges contend in essence that the Board exceeds at least its legitimate authority if not its very jurisdiction by certifying counties as joint employers with chief judges in regard to court employees and by disregarding constitutional questions surrounding the issue. Arguments such as the four chief judges' need not be wholly correct in order to concern jurisdiction; thus, for this reason alone, Cook County's contention is inadequate. More importantly, the condition for issuance of a writ is that the inferior tribunal's jurisdiction or authority would actually be exceeded by the action to be prohibited, not merely that the petitioner argue concerning that issue. Because we find that the Board does in fact exceed its legitimate authority when it classifies chief judges and counties as joint employers of court employees, the condition is satisfied. It is of no moment that the Board arguably lacks power to declare a statute such as the funding statutes unconstitutional and to refuse to follow it. While it may be that the Board had no choice other than to follow the statutes, this does not mean that achieving an unconstitutional result by so doing lies within the Board's legitimate authority. Even if the Board in a sense was statutorily left powerless to avoid straying outside its legitimate authority as ultimately defined by us, the fact remains that, by declaring the result of the Board's actions to be ultra vires, we can do for the Board what it could not do for itself, i.e., construe the constitution so as to limit its authority and then keep the Board within that authority. Once having made such a declaration, as we do in this opinion, we can and do view the writ of prohibition's jurisdiction-related condition for issuance to have been met.