The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed Ketki Shroff Steffen to the Fecarotta vacancy in the far northwestern 13th Subcircuit. Judge Steffen's appointment, announced yesterday, was effective yesterday as well, and will expire on December 5, 2016, when the elected successor to Judge Fecarotta is sworn into office.This will be Judge Steffen's second tour of duty in the judiciary. Judge Steffen, a finalist in the 2009 round of associate judge selection, was first appointed to a 13th Subcircuit vacancy in early 2010. Her bid to retain that seat fell short in the 2012 primary.
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Attention all supreme court appointed hack-judges. Don't sweat the small stuff. For this election cycle (and all others to come) run a lean, penny-pinching campaign to try to keep your jobs. Especially those of you appointed in sub-circuits where the local leadership was not consulted first. And don't worry one bit about losing those elections. I repeat, don't worry your privileged little heads off one bit. The fact that you got an appointment is superior testament of your "family and friends" connections to the supremes. And, just like the subject of this blog article, Ketki Shroff Steffen, (and may other losers) you'll get appointment, after appointment, after appointment, until you reach your pension goals. Enjoy the holiday season, spend time with your family and don't worry about anything as trivial as popular elections. As Always, E.P.
E.P., why is it so terrible for someone to be appointed more than once? Sure, I'm jealous -- I will forever be on the outside looking in -- but I am also inclined to accept, at least as a working hypothesis, that someone must have something 'on the ball' in order to command not only the attention of the Supreme Court not once, but twice, even after the voters (or the political parties) didn't see what the Supreme Court saw. Call it a rebuttable presumption.
And if it's bad to appoint someone in a subcircuit without consulting the "local leadership," is your objection so much to "friends and family" plans generally? Or is it really just to the court's "friends and family" plan, as opposed to whatever "friends and family" plan that is in place for the "local leadership"?
I know, I know. It's these kinds of impertinent questions that preclude my ever developing the right sorts of friends, wherever situated.
I think, moreover, that there are relatively few persons who have received multiple appointments -- I can think of only three individuals who have received more than two appointments in recent years -- and I can think of only six others, including Judge Steffen, who have been appointed twice. That's not a trivial percentage of all judicial appointments, surely, but it's by no means a majority either. And I can think of a lot of persons who were "one and dones."
E.P., the Lawyers Assistance Program may be able to help with your anger management issues and delusions. The friends and family plan has ruled this city long before Fort Dearborn or Mrs. O'Leary's cow, and it will continue to rule this city long after we are dead and our ashes are dumped into the Chicago River.
I can assure you that they are not going to reprint "Profiles in Courage" and add a chapter about you because you bemoaned the unfairness of becoming a judge in Cook County. And unless you have performed some miracles that you have not yet shared with us, I don't foresee your veneration or beatification because you exposed that political hacks beget more political hacks. I don't want to burst your bubble, but no one is scouring law review articles or the jury verdict reporter searching for potential judicial prospects. Donor lists, yes.
Cook County politics served as the initial premise of the human centipede movies. I must leave it at that, otherwise Leyhane will jettison this post, but suffice it to say the description fits. Short of a neutron bomb going off over northeastern Illinois, nothing will ever change.
Chicago ain't ready for reform, ... and it never will be.
Is it stomach turning? Yes. Does it stink more than the north shore stink flower? Of course. But should any of it surprise you? Absolutely not. Is there anything you can do about it? Slow euthanasia by vodka over a period of decades has helped me forget the sausage I have seen made. Don't get upset about what you see and hear. Wash away those evil memories each night with distilled potato juice and you'll be happy as a clam.
Next time you get upset about the friends and family plan, don't reach for your keyboard, reach for the Stoli instead. But if you fall of a bar stool and hit your head, don't go to county hospital because the guy from the 11th Ward they fired from Streets and San for sleeping on the job may now be Chief of Emergency Medicine.
So E.P. starts the old discussion on the family and friends plan? I guess with each new appointment this is something we have to look forward to. That's o/k. But lets talk a little about LOVE. Judge Steffen comes from a good Republican family. Not many Democrats up there on the North Shore. So when when her once Republican husband, Robert Steffen, became the Democratic Committeeman of Barrington Township, more than a few eyebrows were lifted and champagne glasses hit the floor. So why would Mr. Steffen want to join those progressive Democrats? I suggest the answer is LOVE. He LOVES his wife and wants her to fulfill her dream of being a judge. And what better way of doing that? Get in club - which is exactly what he did. So yes E.P. - you are correct - the family and friends plan strikes again and the Supreme Court Justices once again demonstrate that merit is not a factor in their appointment process. But with this particular appointment I would like to think that the Justices, and in particular, Justice Theis, was moved by Mr. Steffen's selfless act of LOVE. This is a true love story. Even you, E.P., must have a little romance left in you?
Oh what a wonderful day.
I really did think that LOVE was no longer in the air within the legal community. That the judiciary was a carbon copy of corporate America. That every decision was a cold, calculated and stratigic move designed only to further careers and/or augment pensions. Thank you Anonymous at 8:26 PM for letting us all know that LOVE can indeed be biracial, bilingual, bisexual, bicultural and now even bipartisan. Romance Rules!
As for Anonymous at 4:58, you need to buy better booze.
Signed, a hopelessy romantic, E. P.
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