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Sherman H. Skolnick (July 13, 1930 – May 21, 2006) was a Chicago-based activist and conspiracy theorist.

Early life

Born in Chicago in 1930, at the age of six, Skolnick was paralyzed by polio, and he used a wheelchair for the rest of his life. His parents, a homemaker and a tailor, were Jewish European immigrants. Skolnick's father was from Russia.

Career

Skolnick was founder and chairman of the Citizens' Committee to Clean Up the Courts, which he started in 1963. He used the local press to distribute his reports, later establishing a telephone hotline–"Hotline News", a public-access television show on cable TV, and a web site.

Skolnick's investigations put Otto Kerner Jr. in prison for three years; and led to the resignation of two Illinois Supreme Court justices, Roy J. Solfisburg, Jr. and Ray Klingbiel, who, as Skolnick reported, had accepted bribes of stock from a defendant in a case on which they ruled. The scandal catapulted John Paul Stevens, special counsel to an investigating commission, to fame as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2001, the story became the subject of a book, Illinois Justice, by Kenneth A. Manaster. His investigations also revealed corruption at the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).

Skolnick's final written works include an 81-part series entitled "The Overthrow of the American Republic," and a 16-part series entitled "Coca-Cola, the CIA, and the Courts."

Later life and death

Skolnick died of a heart attack on May 21, 2006.

Publications

Articles

• "The Late Grand Dragon of the Washington Post." Skolnick's Report (July 23, 2001).

Books

• Ahead of the Parade: A Who's Who of Treason and High Crimes – Exclusive Details of Fraud and Corruption of the Monopoly Press, the Banks, the Bench and the Bar, and the Secret Political Police. Dandelion Books (2003). ISBN 9781893302327.
• Overthrow of the American Republic: Writings of Sherman H. Skolnick. Dandelion Books (2007). ISBN 1893302229, 978-1893302228.

References

1. Fenster, Mark (1999). Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press. p. 84. ISBN 9780816632428. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
2. Kellner, Douglas (2003). Media Spectacle. London: Routledge. p. 120. ISBN 9781134493951. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
3. Smith, Christopher E. (2011). "John Paul Stevens: A Liberal Leader & His Roles on the Court". In Smith, Christopher E.; DeJong, Christina; McCall, Michael A. (eds.). The Rehnquist Court and Criminal Justice. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books. p. 128. ISBN 9780739140826. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
4. ^ Noel, Josh (May 23, 2006). "Sherman Skolnick". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
5. "Judges: Skolnick's Guerrilla War". Time. August 29, 1969. Archived from the original on October 25, 2007.
6. ^ Patten, Joseph N. (2003–2004). "Review of Illinois Justice: The Scandal of 1969 and the Rise of John Paul Stevens" (PDF). Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture. 10 (3): 233–237. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-04-25. Retrieved 2014-03-09.

External links

• Official website archive Archived 2014-02-20 at the Wayback Machine
• Sherman Skolnick file at the FBI (via Internet Archive)
• Sherman Skolnick collection at the Harold Weisberg Archive (via Internet Archive)
• Sherman Skolnick Suit collection at the Harold Weisberg Archive (via Internet Archive)
• "Sherman Skolnick Sounds Off!" Interview by Kenn Thomas.

• 1930 births
• 2006 deaths
• 20th-century American Jews
• 20th-century American journalists
• 20th-century American male writers
• 20th-century American non-fiction writers
• Activists from Chicago
• American anti-corruption activists
• American conspiracy theorists
• American investigative journalists
• American male journalists
• American male non-fiction writers
• Critics of the Catholic Church
• Jewish American activists
• Jewish American journalists
• Jewish American non-fiction writers
• Journalists from Chicago