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Quote/Term of the Week

Docket / noun

A calendar or list of cases set for a court hearing or trial on a given day. A docket also can be a summary of hearings, rulings and motions that have happened in a court case.

Ex. A court watcher will check the docket to find out where a pretrial detention hearing is happening.

Tracking down the docket

We’re two weeks into observing local court hearings, and we already have some takeaways.

This month, Chicago Documenters launched its court watching pilot with the aim of tracking how the Cook County court system is implementing the SAFE-T Act’s pretrial fairness protocols following the elimination of cash bail in 2023.

Along with the usual notetaking tasks, the Chicago Documenters team created a new role called the courthouse navigator. Those assigned to this role don’t document the court hearings, but instead show up early to find a copy of the docket (or court schedule) for that day, then write down the name of the person accused and their case number for each of the scheduled pretrial detention hearings.  

The docket, titled the Alpha Roster Report is just a stack of papers stapled together. Each page includes the name of the person charged with a crime, their case number, the scheduled time of their hearing and in which courtroom it’s taking place, among other information, organized in spreadsheet format.  

Fact checking is a big part of Chicago Documenters. It’s a key step in ensuring the content we’re publishing from meetings, hearings and other public proceedings is accurate, fair and does not perpetuate harm. 

We need the docket to properly fact check notes from the pretrial detention hearings as it is the best — and sometimes only — way to confirm the name and case number associated with the person accused of a crime.

But it’s not always a straightforward process. The best way to see the docket is to go to the courthouse at 2650 S. California Ave. in person. Even so, the information isn’t always up to date — times and courtroom locations can change after the docket has been printed. 

When this is the situation, it takes a lot of initiative, time and baseline understanding of how courts operate to ask attorneys or court staff to clarify the information listed on the docket. Chicago Documenters are doing our best to train and empower program participants to seek out this information, but most people who come to court in hopes of finding and supporting their loved ones may find it difficult to navigate.  

Legal professionals and advocates have spent years pushing for increased access to court documents, which includes digitizing court records and posting dockets online. Currently, you can use the Circuit Court’s online portal to find summaries of court records and what’s happened with civil cases in divisions such as traffic violations, domestic relations and child support and probation. 

Limited access to dockets for criminal proceedings is a longstanding issue in Cook County, according to our partners at Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice.

While there are other counties in the state — and in some cases, entire states — where dockets and court schedules are publicly accessible online, such as Kendall County, which encompasses part of Aurora, Illinois, our partners tell us there hasn’t been much movement to do the same in Cook County. 

Stay tuned as we learn more.

What you can do:

Train to Document Cook County's detention hearings: Are you a Chicago Documenter looking to get involved with our court watching pilot? Register to attend one of our upcoming training sessions at docs.org. 

NOTE: Those interested in court watching must have already completed Documenters orientation. Stay tuned for upcoming orientation trainings later this year.

Read our court watching notes: Head to documenters.org to check out Documenting from pre-trial detention hearings over the past two weeks.

A version of this story was first published in the March 18, 2026 issue of the Newswire, an email newsletter that is your weekly guide to Chicago government, civic action and what we can do to make our city great. You can sign up for the weekly newsletter here.

Have thoughts on what you'd like to see in this feature? Email Civic Editor Dawn Rhodes at dawn@citybureau.org.