Illinois State Bar Association releases advisory ratings for Cook County judicial retention election

Four Circuit Court judges received negative ratings from the Illinois State Bar Association in evaluations recently released (and now available on the ISBA website).

Narrative explanations of the negative evaluations are expected to be released next week, according to the ISBA's Joyce Williams, who also stressed that the ISBA does not endorse judicial candidates, whether for election or retention.

With that understanding, in the 2020 Cook County retention election, the ISBA recommends a "yes" vote to retain both Appellate Court Justices Aurelia M. Pucinski and Mary Katherine Rochford and all Circuit Court candidates seeking retention -- with four exceptions.

The exceptions are Judges Mauricio Araujo, Jackie Marie Portman-Brown, Diana Rosario, and John J. Mahoney.

Araujo and Portman-Brown are both currently assigned to administrative duties pursuant to prior actions taken by the Circuit Court Executive Committee. The Judicial Inquiry Board recently filed a Complaint against Araujo before the Illinois Courts Commission.

Judge Rosario was elected to a countywide vacancy in 2014. Although slated by the Democratic Party and endorsed by the Tribune, the ISBA gave Rosario a "Not Recommended" rating in 2014. She is currently assigned to the Domestic Relations Division.

Judge Mahoney is currently assigned to the 5th Municipal District in Bridgeview. He was elected to a 4th Subcircuit vacancy in 2014. He was endorsed by the Tribune then, and received a "Highly Qualified" rating from the ISBA at that time.

Judges are subject to retention elections when their terms expire (10 years for Appellate and Supreme Court justices, six years for Circuit Court judges). Whether initially elected countywide or from a subcircuit, all Cook County voters have a say in whether each judge shall be retained. Voters answer a "yes" or "no" question as to whether each judge should be retained in office. To be retained, a judge must receive more than 60% "yes" votes (at least 60% + 1). In 2018, one judge was defeated in a retention bid; that was the first time that a Cook County judge had been defeated for retention since 1990.