The appointment is effective June 21 and terminates December 7, 2020. The Court's appointment was made on the recommendation of Justice Mary Jane Theis. The Supreme Court's complete press release about the appointment may be found here. As reported here in April, Mulroe's appointment was not unexpected.
Mulroe has served in the State Senate since 2010. He was previously a candidate for a 10th Subcircuit vacancy in 2008.
Licensed in Illinois since 1988, Mulroe has operated John G. Mulroe, P.C. since 1995. Before that, according to the Supreme Court's press release, Mulroe spent six years as a Cook County Assistant State's Attorney "and has also served as a hearing officer for the City of Chicago and the Chicago Park District." According to the Supreme Court's press release, Mulroe received highly qualified or recommended ratings from a dozen bar groups.
Posts
6 comments:
One has to wonder if MJT even reads the applications. Kind of like putting a contract out to bid when it’s already been decided who gets the job.
This charade is disheartening. It’s deceptive to pretend to make this look like an open process. The justices can appoint who they want. I wish they’d dispense with the ruse.
I agree with person above, but take it further. If a justice is willing to try to make a “done deal” appointment look like an open, competitive process when it not, it calls into question in my mind the justice’s true impartiality on cases before the court.
If someone is willing to solicit hundreds of pages in laboriously compiled applications for appointments that are essentially meaningless, does it raise questions whether the laboriously written brief receives the same scrutiny.
We talk about good-faith and bad-faith as lawyers. Which of those two phrases describes a process of asking lawyers for 50 page applications, when word of Mulroe’s appointment was on the street before the application announcement was put out.
I believe this process needs a fresh look. With several hundred judges in Cook County, is it really necessary to fill a vacancy? Go to these courthouses on most afternoons and they are ghost towns. Can the mechanics lien judicial vacancy sit open for five months and be decided by the voters rather than someone still beholden to the machine that put them on the bench?
Anon 7:21
What's your beef with this pick? Mulroe is highly qualified to be on the bench. He has spent decades as a practicing attorney and has time in the legislative branch as well. He will make a great judge.
Do you have a trend to offer to show MJT's selections lack merit or are predetermined? Do you know who else applied for the vacancy? Do you know of someone more qualified who wasn't interviewed? Do you have something, anything, to support your assertion this was a charade or do you just like smearing people?
He was found not qualified by some bar associations last time he ran for judge, presumably for insensitive comments made during his Alliance interview.
It was speculated on this blog that Mulroe was getting the nod long before it was announced.
Mulroe is qualified. The point is that the process is a sham. If you believe it appears on the up and up, then I’m happy for you.
Now Martwick will be appointed state senator, that is if he is not replacing Sposato when he soon resigns. All this is part of the deal.
THERE IS A BIGGER QUESTION - SHOULD THE JUSTICES TAKE ELECTABILITY INTO ACCOUNT AS A "TIEBREAKER" AMONG QUALIFIED CANDIDATES? IF SO, THEN MULROE IS THE PICK HERE AS HE WILL BE SUPPORTED BY ALL THE COMMITTEEMEN AND POSSIBLY UNOPPOSED.
MAYBE YOU DISAGREE, BUT I THINK THAT THE JUSTICES, IN DECIDING BETWEEN QUALIFIED CANDIDATES, ARE NOT AMISS IN CONSIDERING WHETHER THE POTENTIAL APPOINTEE WOULD BE A GOOD CANDIDATE FOR ELECTION TO THE SEAT THEY ARE APPOINTED TO.
Anon 6/17 @ 10:32 a.m. -- When Mulroe ran in 2008, he was found qualified or recommended by every bar association issuing ratings -- I looked it up. Here.
As for the rest of your comment, I don't know who will have switched places when the dust settles. I would, however, think Martwick replacing Sposato to be unlikely. And Michael McAuliffe resigned today. That presumably won't have any direct impact here... but there have been some 'across the aisle' agreements in this part of the City before... so we'll just have to see.
But you say the process is a "sham."
Why?
Legally, Justice Theis can appoint whoever she wants, without any committee. She has a committee, but it is not a public body, and is under no obligation to meet publicly, or at all, or to interview anyone.... You want an interview? Apply for AJ.
Here is what the Court said about the Theis committee's role in the Mulroe appointment (from the press release): "Justice Theis recommended Mr. Mulroe's appointment after candidates were reviewed by bar associations and a special judicial screening committee."
No warranties or representations are made about the nature of the review, whether it was extensive or cursory, or what criteria may have been employed by the committee in its review. There's nothing in the actual language used that even says the committee recommended Sen. Mulroe to Justice Theis -- and I am entirely certain that Justice Theis was aware of Sen. Mulroe even without committee input.
This does not make the process a "sham."
Granted, the committee has a transparent public relations purpose.
But what's so wrong about that?
Now... if my advice were sought (and, obviously, that has not happened, and will not happen) I would recommend doing away with the special application process entirely -- at least to the extent that the application is just that much different from both an AJ application and a bar association screening questionnaire so that it requires a shipload of work for an apparent dinghy's worth of review. Soliciting updated CVs, or copies of the applicant's last AJ application, would more than satisfy the PR purpose of having a screening committee without unnecessarily cranking off the applicant pool. (And, as regulars here know, from the comments, there's some real bitterness about the appointment application process -- and the lengthy application process undoubtedly contributes to this.)
Just soliciting CVs or copies of AJ applications this would still allow an opportunity for the hitherto unknown applicant to come to the attention of the appointing Justice and give the Justice's screening committee plenty of grist for the mill if the appointing Justice were to seek the assistance of the committee in vetting the applicant.
Post a Comment