Thursday, September 13, 2018

More judges not on the retention ballot

This gets complicated, but bear with me.

We know who is serving on the Cook County bench at any given time because the list of serving judges is regularly updated on the Illinois Courts website. It's not necessarily 100% accurate 'in real time' (as of this morning, for example, Jessica O'Brien is still on the list, but Judge Alexander White, who retired quite recently, has already been removed) but it's very, very close.

We could determine who is eligible for retention because these would be those still-serving judges elected six years ago, or any multiple of six years ago. While the AOIC maintains such a list, it isn't something those of us among the great unwashed can call up and peruse. From my archives, we could compile such a list, since this blog's records go back to the 2008 election.

But I have never undertaken that effort. Instead, I reported on who actually filed for retention. FWIW published that list in May.

If one could compare the list of eligibles to the list of actuals, we would know for certain that the seats of those not named on both lists would become available by no later than the first Monday of December.

I haven't been able to do that. But, this morning, FWIW received, from a reliable source, a list of six judges eligible for retention, but not seeking it.

These judges (and the units from which they were elected), are:
  • Rodney Hughes Brooks (1st Subcircuit);
  • Raymond Funderburk (Countywide);
  • Deborah J. Gubin (8th Subcircuit);
  • Marvin F. Luckman (9th Subcircuit);
  • Marya Nega (6th Subcircuit); and
  • Carole K. Bellows (Countywide).
Looking back, with the blinding clarity of 20/20 hindsight, you will now note that five of these six jurists were not on the list published in May of those seeking retention. Also, knowing now what to look for, we can see that none of these are on the list of retention judges on the invitation for their September 17 fundraiser (full disclosure: I have sent in my check for a ticket to this event; really full disclosure: I think it will clear).

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