Why Is the Cook County Public Defender Representing a University of Chicago Professor?

The curious case of Eman Abdelhadi and Sharone R. Mitchell, Jr.

The Cook County Public Defender’s Office is chronically understaffed and underfunded. So why is it spending scarce taxpayer resources to defend a University of Chicago professor with a six-figure salary?

Eman Abdelhadi, an assistant professor in the University of Chicago’s Department of Comparative Human Development, was arrested on Friday, October 3, at the Broadview ICE facility. She faces two Class 3 felony charges for aggravated battery of police officers, along with two Class A misdemeanors for resisting arrest and obstructing the performance of a police officer.

Contrarian has confirmed that Abdelhadi is represented by the Cook County Public Defender’s Office — a surprising departure from standard procedure, given the office’s mandate to serve indigent defendants.

Abdelhadi appeared in court on October 4 for a bail hearing and was released after paying approximately $14 in court fees. At that first appearance, she was represented by a public defender, which is routine when a defendant is in custody. However, continued representation by a public defender normally requires a formal showing of financial need. Indeed, the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender maintains a Q&A stating that public defenders are appointed for "people who cannot afford to hire a private attorney," and that the court will have defendants fill out an affidavit after their first court appearance to determine whether they are financially able to hire a private attorney.

Such affidavits are required statewide. Section 113-3(b) of the Illinois Code of Criminal Procedure requires courts to obtain a financial affidavit “containing sufficient information to ascertain the assets and liabilities of that defendant.” Cook County’s own administrative orders reinforce this requirement: Only defendants who lack the means to pay for private counsel qualify for the services of the Public Defender.

Yet at Abdelhadi’s second appearance on October 7, the Cook County public defender representing her filed a demand for a speedy trial on her behalf. As of Wednesday, the case file associated with Abdelhadi’s case does not contain an affidavit documenting her financial resources.

This leaves two possibilities: Either the University of Chicago pays its tenure-track professors poverty-level wages, or a well-compensated faculty member is improperly receiving taxpayer-funded legal assistance meant for the poor.

Publicly available information suggests the latter. Abdelhadi resides in a luxury four-bedroom, four-bath apartment listed for rent last year at over $3,000 per month. A report from the University of North Carolina indicates that professors at Abdelhadi’s rank earn an average of $141,000 annually at the University of Chicago. Although it did not participate in the American Association of University Professors’ (AAUP) 2024 salary survey, the university has consistently ranked among the top-paying schools since at least 2011, according to reporting from The Chicago Maroon.

Abdelhadi, who drew controversy this summer after calling the University of Chicago an “evil colonial landlord” at Haymarket Books’s Socialism 2025 Conference, is therefore exceedingly unlikely to meet the state’s indigency threshold. Her continued representation by the Public Defender’s Office raises serious questions about oversight, fairness, and the responsible use of limited county resources.

The issue is especially striking given the strain on the office itself. The Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts has long warned that Cook County’s Public Defender is overburdened and underfunded. A 2008 lawsuit revealed the county’s public defenders were handling caseloads up to 60 percent above national standards in felony courts and 400 percent above those standards in misdemeanor courts. As of April, Appleseed estimated that the office faces a shortfall of nearly 150 attorneys and hundreds of support staff.

When overburdened attorneys are struggling to serve low-income defendants awaiting trial, the question becomes inescapable: Why is a wealthy professor receiving these scarce public services? Abdelhadi’s defense further strains already exhausted civil servants, who in turn will have less bandwidth to assist defendants who actually need their help. This is hardly ethical behavior for a self-avowed socialist.  

Contrarian hopes the judge presiding over Abdelhadi’s case will require her to complete the legally mandated financial affidavit before her next hearing on November 21, rather than allowing Mitchell to continue his “free” representation. But the court can do more: it should demand Abdelhadi reimburse taxpayers for the cost of her public defense to date.

Section 113-3.1 of the Illinois Code of Criminal Procedure authorizes courts to order such reimbursement “on the court’s own motion or on motion of the prosecutor.” In theory, this means Cook County judges or the State’s Attorney could seek repayment from Abdelhadi if she is found not to be indigent.

‍Contrarian urges them to do so, in the interest of justice.