‘Common sense’ doesn’t explain City Council, so judge to allow Chicago ‘civics lesson’ for Burke jurors

Then-Ald. Ed Burke speaks during a Chicago City Council last year. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times, Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Finding “the structure of Chicago’s City Council is not inherently understood through common sense,” the federal judge presiding over ex-Ald. Edward M. Burke’s corruption trial said Thursday she’d allow a witness to give jurors a “civics lesson” about City Hall.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall got a preview Tuesday of the potential testimony of Elmhurst University political science professor Constance Mixon, who described Chicago’s City Council members to the judge as “mini-mayors” with a “hyper-local ward focus.”