University of Illinois v. Barrett

The University of Illinois was created by the Illinois legislature in 1867 as the result of a land grant provided to the state of Illinois by Congress. Members of the Board of Trustees (petitioners) of the university were elected by citizens of the state during general elections. Johnson (petitioner) was a professor and counsel for the university, while Hodges (petitioner) was assistant counsel. Both were to be paid salaries by the university through state appropriations made to the university from the state legislature. Though the appropriations made to the university from the state legislature did not include funding for university counsel or assistant counsel, the university had always included funding for these positions in its budget submitted to the legislature, and such funding had always been provided by the legislature. A lawsuit, unrelated to this case, was filed against the University of Illinois. Subsequently, the Board of Trustees, and Johnson and Hodges, individually, filed a petition for a writ of mandamus with the Illinois Supreme Court against the state’s Attorney General and Auditor of Public Accounts to compel the Auditor to pay to the university the funding necessary to pay the salaries for Johnson and Hodges, and to prevent the Attorney General from interfering with Johnson and Hodges acting as counsel for the Board of Trustees in the lawsuit pending against the university.