Pamela Leeming appointed to McCarthy vacancy

Well, the long and the short of it is, I missed it: Assistant Public Defender Pamela M. Leeming was appointed to the McCarthy vacancy by the Illinois Supreme Court on October 30. Her appointment begins December 1 and terminates December 6, 2010. An attorney since 1990, Leeming was a finalist in the 2008 round of Associate Judge Selection. She currently serves as Secretary of the Asian American Bar Association. Leeming is presently a candidate for the Riley vacancy in the 11th Judicial Subcircuit -- a seat to which Steven J. Fruth was appointed by the Supreme Court.

While I missed the announcement, the Cook County Public Defender's Blog did not.

I don't feel too bad about that. After all, Leeming works for the PD's office and the Supreme Court doesn't always issue a press release when it fills a vacancy.

But also scooping FWIW on this occasion was Ameet Sachdev of the Chicago Tribune's "Chicago Law" blog. You know... the Chicago Tribune that never publishes anything about judicial elections or appointments except for maybe one article around endorsement time? Yes, that Chicago Tribune.

Sachdev writes (in a November 3 entry!) "Chicago's Asian-American community is celebrating [Leeming's] appointment. Leeming, who is of Pakistani descent, is believed to be the first Asian-American to serve as a judge for the full Cook County circuit. Several Asian-Americans are judges in Cook County subcircuits."

The special filing deadline for the McCarthy vacancy is Monday.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Update 11/21/09: My copy of the November 3 Tribune seems to have already been recycled so I have to rely on Westlaw for this assertion -- but, after checking, it would appear that Mr. Sachdev's blog entry about Leeming's appointment (linked above) never made it into print. Thus the actual newspaper didn't cover Leeming's appointment after all. My belief in the balance of the cosmos is restored.