Legal Question in Family Law in Illinois

There has been a loud public outcry against noncustodial parents who fail to pay their fair share of child support. Because the majority of noncustodial parents are men, most of the public rage has been directed at so called "deadbeat dads." Policymakers and politicians from both sides of the aisle and from both federal and state levels of government have called for tougher enforcement of child support obligations. State governments interested in offsetting the costs of public assistance to single parent families have been particularly eager to adopt new strategies of enforcement that promise to generate more revenues from collections of child support obligations. And from this standpoint of generating revenues, one of the newest and most promising enforcement strategies is revoking motor vehicle and professional licenses ("license revocation") from delinquent obligors. 1

Although there has been wide support for tougher child support enforcement and for license revocation in particular, concerns about the constitutionality of this enforcement strategy have been raised. 2 Therefore, this article addresses the most likely bases for constitutional challenge of license revocation programs. Section II provides some historical background on child support enforcement in the United States, including traditional judicial enforcement strategies and the modern trend towards administrative enforcement. Section III addresses the constitutional parameters of license revocation and the most likely bases for legal challenge which include due process (both procedural and substantive) and equal protection claims

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