Justice Karmeier's pending retirement illustrates how judicial vacancies work

Over the weekend, I tweeted a link to the November 1 story by Rebecca Anzel in the Bellville News-Democrat about the pending retirement of Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier.

The article reports that Karmeier will step down effective December 6, 2020, adding that Justice Karmeier "has requested his seat be filled by election, rather than by appointment."

Well, actually, because Justice Karmeier plans to leave office on December 6, 2020 and his successor will be sworn in on December 7, there will never be a vacancy that could be filled by appointment.

However, once Justice Karmeier gave the appropriate notice that he would leave office on December 6, 2020, there was an immediate vacancy insofar as the Illinois State Board of Elections was concerned. Justice Karmeier's vacancy will be on the ballot next year in the far Downstate 5th District. For purposes of election, a vacancy exists as soon as a judge gives notice of an intent to step down by a date certain, not when the judge actually cleans out his or her desk for the last time.

The Illinois Supreme Court can fill judicial vacancies when they occur -- but these vacancies can only be filled for the period of time between a judge's actual departure and the inauguration of his or her duly elected successor.

Justice Karmeier's vacancy was not the only new one announced on the updated list of 2020 judicial vacancies posted by the ISBE -- but, despite the abundance of rumors, some of them rather ghoulish -- there were no new Cook County judicial vacancies announced in the most recent update.