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After a video game law in Illinois failed to pass a lawsuit brought on by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) that declared the law unconstitutional, the state is being forced to pay the ESA $510,000 for its legal fees in the proceedings.
“Judge Kennelly’s rulings send two irrefutable messages,” commented Doug Lowenstein, President of the ESA. “Not only are efforts to ban the sale of violent video games clearly unconstitutional, they are a waste of taxpayer dollars. The sad fact is that the State of Illinois knew this law was unconstitutional from the beginning. Taxpayers have a right to know that over half a million of their dollars and countless government hours were thrown away in this fruitless effort.”
“I am very disappointed that the state of Illinois has to pay these fees for what was such a clearly unconstitutional law from the start,” stated State Senator John Cullerton. “When I spoke against this law in Springfield, I predicted we would have to pay legal fees. The amount ordered to the plaintiffs…doesn’t even count the substantial fees the state will have to pay its own lawyers.”