Judges Association, Bar Association Hit Back At Rauner
From the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
A day after Gov. Bruce Rauner said the Illinois Supreme Court is part of a “corrupt system,” a judges’ association fired back, calling his comments “disturbing” and saying it “endangers the rule of law.”
The group’s response follows the Republican governor telling a suburban newspaper: “I don’t trust the Supreme Court to be rational in their decisions.”
Rauner said they’re “activist judges who want to be legislators” and part of a “corrupt system” because they accept donations from trial lawyers.
“You tell me if you look at who gives them the money, and you decide whether there’s a conflict of interest going on in the courts,” Rauner told the Daily Herald editorial board on Tuesday. “You tell me. Do you think there’s not?”
The governor’s office declined the Daily Law Bulletin’s request to talk about his comments. His office issued a statement Wednesday that the “current system creates potential conflicts of interest by allowing trial lawyers to fund the election campaigns of judges who they appear in front of. The governor wants to change that.”
Joseph R. Tybor, a Supreme Court spokesman, also declined to comment.
But the Illinois Judges Association and the Illinois State Bar Association blasted the governor’s words.
First District Appellate Justice Michael B. Hyman, who also serves as president of the Illinois Judges Association, said Wednesday in a statement that Rauner’s comments were “disparaging” and undermined people’s faith in all three branches of government.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
A day after Gov. Bruce Rauner said the Illinois Supreme Court is part of a “corrupt system,” a judges’ association fired back, calling his comments “disturbing” and saying it “endangers the rule of law.”
The group’s response follows the Republican governor telling a suburban newspaper: “I don’t trust the Supreme Court to be rational in their decisions.”
Rauner said they’re “activist judges who want to be legislators” and part of a “corrupt system” because they accept donations from trial lawyers.
“You tell me if you look at who gives them the money, and you decide whether there’s a conflict of interest going on in the courts,” Rauner told the Daily Herald editorial board on Tuesday. “You tell me. Do you think there’s not?”
The governor’s office declined the Daily Law Bulletin’s request to talk about his comments. His office issued a statement Wednesday that the “current system creates potential conflicts of interest by allowing trial lawyers to fund the election campaigns of judges who they appear in front of. The governor wants to change that.”
Joseph R. Tybor, a Supreme Court spokesman, also declined to comment.
But the Illinois Judges Association and the Illinois State Bar Association blasted the governor’s words.
First District Appellate Justice Michael B. Hyman, who also serves as president of the Illinois Judges Association, said Wednesday in a statement that Rauner’s comments were “disparaging” and undermined people’s faith in all three branches of government.
Read more in our daily News Update...