Justice Theis announces application process for the countywide Sullivan vacancy

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis today announced an application process to fill the countywide vacancy of Judge Sharon Sullivan. The person appointed would serve until the vacancy is filled at the 2022 election (and, of course, nothing prevents the person appointed from seeking election to that vacancy).

Applications are due by 4:00 p.m. on September 1. The application form can be obtained on the Judicial Vacancies page of the new Illinois Supreme Court website. That's the good news.

The bad news is that, as of today, this is the only vacancy shown thereon.

I suppose, though, that we must see this as an improvement.

Anyway, according to the press release issued today by the Supreme Court, persons who have previously applied for appointment to a vacancy must complete and submit a new application. If applicants have already been evaluated by the bar associations, they should include copies with the application. Applications may be submitted without bar evaluations.

However, according to the Court's announcement, all applicants will be screened by the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screening and by the Chicago Bar Association and "[f]urther review will be conducted by a special judicial screening committee that Justice Theis established in 2013." (The link there is to the 2013 FWIW post concerning the formation of that committee.)

Completed applications should be submitted to lmarino@illinoiscourts.gov.

Interested persons may find more information on the Supreme Court website.