Professor Ann M. Lousin was once again honored by the Illinois State Historical Society for her writings on Illinois constitutional law. This is the sixth year in a row that Lousin has been honored by ISHS.
This year Lousin received a Certificate of Excellence for two articles she wrote as part of her ongoing column featured in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. The first column “Constitutional Tinkering is a bad idea, particularly this idea” considered why an Illinois amendment asking voters whether they approve of adding a section to the Illinois Constitution’s revenue article could have major consequences.
The second column “45 Years later, three unsolved issues won’t go away” focused on three issues that the Illinois Constitutional Convention was unable to solve at the time and have plagued Illinois ever since. Those issues are judicial selection, funding of public schools and redistricting the General Assembly. Lousin was a research assistant at the 1969-1970 Illinois Constitutional Convention. She also served as staff assistant to the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, including a term as Parliamentarian of the House.
According to the ISHS, “Although these opinion pieces are geared to attorneys, both are appropriate for any Illinois citizen and could appear in any Illinois magazine or newspaper. Both articles—one a primer on the ‘six burning issues of the 1969-1970 Illinois Constitution’, the other a more contemporary analysis of the recent Safe Road Amendment—work very well together.”
In previous years, she received awards for her writing on a variety of topics, including Illinois constitutional amendments and the Fort Dearborn Massacre.
Lousin has served on several nonprofit boards and governmental commissions, including a term as chairman of the Illinois State Civil Service Commission. She has been the chair of the CBA Constitutional Law Committee. She has been a leader in other legal organizations, including service as chair of the Board of Governors of the Armenian Bar Association from 1995 to 1998. She also lectures and consults on the Illinois Constitution, general public law issues and commercial law in the U.S. and abroad. In 2009 she was elected a member of the American Law Institute.
In 2016, the Armenian Bar Association named its inaugural legal scholar award “The Ann M. Lousin Scholar of Law Award,” in her honor.
Lousin joined the John Marshall faculty in 1975. She primarily teaches Sales Transactions and Illinois Constitutional Law. Lousin received her bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College and her law degree from The University of Chicago. Between college and law school, Lousin studied political science at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.
