Michael J. Kasper concentrates his litigation practice in trial and appellate litigation in the areas of elections, voting rights, constitutional law and issues related to the legislative process.

Mr. Kasper's clients have included:

• President Bill Clinton. Mr. Kasper was Illinois Counsel to Former President Clinton, and to the Clinton/Gore campaigns in 1992 and 1996. He was also Illinois Counsel to the 2000 Gore/Lieberman campaign.
• United States Senators Dick Durbin and the late Paul Simon.
• Congressional Representatives William O. Lipinski, Bobby Rush and Jan Schakowsky.
• More than 50 members of the Illinois House of Representatives, including Speaker of the House, Michael J. Madigan.
• Seventeen members of the Illinois Senate.
• Numerous state, county and city officials and nominees.

Mr. Kasper’s representative cases are substantial and span a number of areas, including:

First Amendment and Constitutional Law:

• Entertainment Software Association v. Blagojevich, 469 F.3d 641 (C.A. 7, 2006). Defended Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich in First Amendment challenge to statute regulating sale and rental of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors.
• Protect Marriage Illinois v. Orr, 463 F.3d 604, 2006 (C.A. 7, 2006.). Represented a civic organization and group of voters in successfully excluding a constitutional amendment referendum regarding the prohibition of gay marriage from the 2006 Illinois statewide ballot.
• Steigmann v. Democratic Party of Illinois, No. 06-1270 (C.A. 7, 2006). Represented the Democratic Party of Illinois in First Amendment and Section 1983 action involving pollical hiring practices in the Illinois state government.
• Pangle v. Friends of Lisa Dugan, et al., No. 04 L 147 (Cir. Ct. Kankakee, 2006). Defended political candidate, committee and political party from a $1 million defamation suit arising from allegations contained in campaign literature.
• Trejo v. Village of Itasca, No. 02 C 1193 (N.D. Ill 2004). Represented plaintiff in Section 1983 litigation involving alleged civil rights violations.
• Temple v. Illinois State Board of Elections, No. 04 CH 13939 (Cir. Ct. Cook Cty. 2004). Represented an incumbent state legislator and several voters in action successfully challenging the constitutionality of statute providing that a candidate’s name would not appear on the ballot if the candidate’s committee owed an administrative penalty for late financial disclosure reports.
• Tully v. Orr, et al., No. 01 CH 00959 (Cir. Ct. Cook Cty. 2001). Counsel for the Democratic Party of Illinois in action successfully obtaining a Court order to implement error detection systems in the punch card voting systems used in Chicago and suburban Cook County.
• Granberg v. Didrickson, et al., 665 N.E.2d 398 (Ill. App. Ct., 1^st Dist. 1996). Counsel for a group of Illinois Legislators in a taxpayers' suit in the Illinois Appellate Court successfully enjoining unlawful appropriations from the Illinois Road Fund.
• Graham v. Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, 695 N.E.2d 360 (Ill. 1998). Counsel for amici curiae Michael J. Madigan and Emil Jones, Jr. in litigation in the Illinois Supreme Court concerning the expenditure of funds by the Toll Highway Authority.
• Johnson v. Edgar, 176 Ill.2d 499, 680 N.E.2d 1372 (Ill. 1997). Counsel for amici curiae Michael J. Madigan and Emil Jones, Jr. in successfully challenging legislation passed in violation of the Single Subject Clause of the Illinois Constitution in the Illinois Supreme Court.

Redistricting and Voting Rights:

• Campuzano v. Illinois State Board of Elections, et al., 200 F.Supp.2d 905 (N.D. Ill. 2002). Lead trial counsel representing the Democratic members of the Illinois Legislative Redistricting Commission in successfully defending the 2001 legislative redistricting plan before a three-judge panel in federal court.
• Barnett v. U.S. Department of Commerce, et al., No. 02 C 2401 (N.D. Ill. 2002). Lead trial counsel representing the Democratic members of the Illinois Legislative Redistricting Commission in successfully defending the 2001 legislative redistricting plan before a three-judge panel in federal court.
• Winters v. State Board of Elections. et al., 197 F.Supp.2d 1110 (N.D. Ill. 2001), affirmed 535 U.S. 967, 122 S.Ct. 1433 (2002). Counsel for Secretary of State, Jesse White in litigation, before a three-judge panel in federal court, upholding the Illinois constitutional provision required the Secretary to randomly select the ninth member of the Illinois Legislative Redistricting Commission. Affirmed by the United States Supreme Court.
• Cole-Randazzo v. Ryan, et al., 762 N.E.2d 485 (Sup. Ct. Ill. 2001). Counsel for a registered voter successfully defending 13 cases in the Illinois Supreme Court raising constitutional challenges to the 2001 legislative redistricting plan.

Ballot Access:

• Nader v. Keith, 385 F.3d 729 (C.A. 7, 2004). Represented a registered voter before the U.S. Court of Apeals for the Seventh Circuit (Posner, Wood, Evans) in successfully removing Ralph Nader’s name from the Illinois ballot for the 2004 presidential election, and defending the constitutionality of three Illinois ballot access statues. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court decision in upholding the constitutionality of the statues.
• Boddie v. McDaniel, 2006 WL 2796413 (N.D. Ill.). Successfully defended the constitutionality of Illinois’ statutes establishing ballot access criteria for candidates for the Illinois General Assembly from First Amendment and Equal Protection challenges.
• Nader 2000 Primary Committee v. Illinois State Board of Elections, 00 C 4401 (N.D. Ill. 2000). Counsel for a registered voter in litigation concerning Ralph Nader's eligibility to appear on the Illinois ballot for the office of President of the United States in the November 2000 election.
• Burny v. Clinton, 96 CO 00037 (Cir. Ct. Cook Cty. 1996). Counsel for President Bill Clinton in successfully defending the validity of his nominating papers for the office of President of the United States in litigation raising constitutional and statutory challenges.
• Anderson v. Graham, No. 77768 (Sup. Ct. Ill. 1994). Counsel for legislative candidate successfully restored to the ballot for the 1994 General Election by the Illinois Supreme Court.
• Rita v. Cook County Officers Electoral Board, 847 N.E.2d 578 (Ill.App.Ct. 1st Dist. 2006). Counsel representing registered voter successfully removing candidate from ballot for use of a prohibited nickname on nominating petitions.
• Nolan v. Cook County Officers Electoral Board, 768 N.E.2d 216 (Ill. App. Ct., 1st Dist. 2002). Counsel for a registered voter in litigation concerning the interpretation of newly enacted legislation governing the nomination process.
• Hough v. Will County Board of Elections, 03-02-0743 (Ill. App. Ct. 3rd Dist., 2003). Counsel for registered voters in successfully removing Libertarian candidates from the ballot for improperly combining candidates for legislative offices on a single nominating petition.
• Beaubien v. State Officers Electoral Board, 4-02-0692 (Ill. App. Ct. 4th Dist., 2002). Counsel successfully defending Democratic Candidate for the Illinois House of Representatives whose nomination was challenged by the incumbent representative.
• Carnell v. Madison County Officers Electoral Board, 299 Ill.App.3d 417, 701 N.E.2d 548 (Ill. App. Ct. 5th Dist., 1998). Counsel for registered voter successfully invalidating nomination of candidate for the Illinois General Assembly where nominating body was improperly constituted.

Mr. Kasper is a partner in the firm of Fletcher, Topol, O'Brien & Kasper, which became of counsel to Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP in 1997. Fletcher, Topol is one of Illinois’ largest and most diverse governmental relations firm. It represents clients before the Illinois General Assembly, the executive branch of state government and local governments, and works to secur passage or defeat of proposed legislation, secure appropriations and funding for projects, monitors pending legislation and helps clients obtain business opportunities through government agencies.

Mr. Kasper is currently the General Counsel and Treasurer of the Democratic Party of Illinois. He previously served as General Counsel to Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan and as Parliamentarian for the Illinois House of Representatives. Prior to working for the State legislature, Mr. Kaper practiced as a litigator at Winston & Strawn, in Chicago.

Mr. Kasper is also a faculty member at The John Marshall Law School, where he teaches courses on voting rights and elections and the legislative process to second- and third-year law students.

He has made several appearances on "Chicago Tonight" on WTTW Channel 11 as an expert commentator in the field of election law, and has made similar appearances on CLTV, Chicago's cable news network. His commentary on election law-related topics has been used by several Illinois radio networks, including WBBM Chicago, National Public Radio and the Illinois Radio Network.

In August 2000, the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and Chicago Lawyer magazine named Mr. Kasper one of the "40 Attorneys Under Age 40 to Watch" in the publications' inaugural profile.

In 2007 and 2008, Law & Politics named Mr. Kasper as a “Super Lawyer” in the area of political law, the only Illinois attorney so designated for two consecutive years.

Several other prominent publications in the area of politics and elections have recognized Mr. Kasper as a leading practitioner in this area, including:

• “I suggest we do away with the time, money, and inconvenience of elections altogether. Let’s just give the oath of office to any candidate Kasper represents.” Chicago Reader, December 18, 2007
• “As anyone who know anything about the arcane world of election law will tell you, Michael Kasper is one of Michael Madigan’s favorite weapons. When the house speaker and state Democratic chieftain wants to bounce some nettlesome challenger from the ballot, generally to protect the incumbency of a legislative loyalist, he tends to bring in Kasper, who know the intricacies of the election law like the back of his hand.” Chicago Reader, March 8, 2007.
• “Michael Kasper, the Democratic Party’s election-law wizard,” Chicago Reader, September 15, 2006
• “Michael Madigan[‘s] ace election-law specialist,” Chicago Reader, September 15, 2006
• “the Democratic party’s top election lawyer.” Southtown Economist, February 12, 2004
• “But witih Madigan’s chief attorney, Mike Kasper, likely on the case, it will be very, very difficult for [the candidate].” Southtown Economist, December 15, 2003
• “his campaign has so much clout it’s been able to use the services of Michael Kasper, an election-law expert who rarely takes on clients unless they’re recommended by [Mayor Richard] Daley or Illinois house speaker Michael Madigan.” Chicago Reader, February 14, 2003
• “a Democratic Party official, election law expert and former counsel to house speaker Michael Madigan,” Chicago Reader, August 2, 2002
• "the top election attorney in the state," The South Suburban Reporter, May, 2002
• "one of the State's top election lawyers, Mike Kasper," Capitol Fax, August 24, 2001
• "he is a top notch election attorney," Belleville News Democrat, September 1, 2001
• "At only 35, Mr. Kasper has established himself as one of the experts in Illinois on campaign and election laws, the legislative process and the machinery of government." Chicago Lawyer, August 2000

Mr. Kasper's publications include:

• “The Almost Rise and Not Quite Fall the Political Gerrymander,” 27 Northern Illinois University Law Review, No. 3, p. 409, 2007.
• "Federal Campaign Finance and Disclosure," and "Political Parties," Practice Handbook on Election Law, Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, 2002 and 2007 editions.
• "Federal Campaign Finance and Disclosure," and "Political Parties," Practice Handbook on Election Law, Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, 2002.
• “Using the Single-Subject Rule to Invalidate Legislation: A Better Approach,” Illinois Bar Journal, Vol. 87, No.3, March 1999.
• "Structure, Function and Legal Status of Political Parties," Practice Handbook on Election Law, Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, 1998, 1995 and 1991.  
• Rules of the Illinois House of Representatives, Office of the Clerk, Illinois House of Representatives, 1997 - 90^th, 91^st & 92^nd General Assemblies.
• "How to Become a Delegate to the Democratic National Convention," Illinois Issues, Sangamon State/University of Illinois Publishers, December 1991.