Illinois to Pay Up for Video Game Court Fees

Judge Kennelly ordered Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to pay video-game industry $520,000

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.

:source: Source: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5433
:pic: Screenshot: http://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?i...oystickic6.jpg