The column which accompanies this commentary, written by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown, is one of many testimonials to the need in Illinois to change the way judges are selected.
Cook County, largest by far of the 102 counties in Illinois, has 268 judges and most are selected in the manner described in Mark Brown’s column. AND Cook County has 141 “associate” judges who are appointed by the judges, not by the voters. AND Cook County has three judges on the Illinois Supreme Court, and 24 judges on the Appellate Court.
They are not picked based on merit or legal experience or brilliance or LSAT scores or the name of the law school on their diploma.
According to Jack Leyhane, a Cook County attorney who watches the Illinois — and especially Cook County — courts better than anyone, judge hopefuls are asked questions by the Judicial Selection Committee of the Cook County Democratic Party.
Here are three questions most of the judicial hopefuls are asked:
•If you are chosen for endorsement by the Party will you support the entire ticket?
•If you are not chosen for endorsement will you run against the ticket?
•The Party incurs certain costs on behalf of the ticket, for mailing and other expenses. Will you or your campaign be willing and able to raise the $30,000 necessary to defray those expenses?
Most of the Democrat-endorsed candidates for judge in Cook County will be unopposed. The Republican Party does not have a similar slating mechanism. Of course, the Republican Party in Cook County doesn’t have the votes to elect judges, except in some of the fringe suburban areas. If they had the votes, the selection process might be similar.
But even those suburban judges, or judges elected in heavily Republican downstate counties, should not be selected or elected on the basis of party affiliation.
Elsewhere around the State of Illinois, there are 262 judges, 250 “associate” judges, and 30 judges on the Appellate courts. Four of the seven justices on the Illinois Supreme Court are selected by voters in the 101 counties outside Cook County.
Illinois has been burned several times by judicial misconduct — misconduct by judges who were elected by voters who knew little, if anything, about the candidates who were hand-picked by political party leaders.
Seventeen judges were indicted during the “Operation Greylord” undercover operation in Cook County during the 1980s. Fifteen were convicted. A total of 92 people were indicted, including 48 lawyers, eight police officers, eight court officials and a state representative.
Recently — only a few months ago — another major scandal involving judges descended upon Illinois. A St. Clair County judge died from a drug overdose and his colleague on the court, who allegedly provided the cocaine believed responsible, was the judge who oversaw the drug court in St. Clair County.
Residents of Illinois, the citizens and taxpayers, deserve to know that the people who sit on the judicial bench and are responsible for administering justice are not sitting there because they were hand-picked by political leaders.
The judicial elections in 2012 — when there will be several hundred candidates on the ballot — should be the last election of its kind. There are better options.
– Ed Murnane
President
Illinois Civil Justice League
Read the Chicago Sun-Times article.
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Why ICJL Calls For Judicial Selection Reform
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