Hispanic groups object to being passed over for Supreme Court vacancy -- again

The truth is that vacancies on the Illinois Supreme Court are rare; we are in the midst of a turnover on that body now that is unprecedented, at least in recent decades: Assuming no further resignations or other surprises, four of the seven seats on the Court will be filled by either the forthcoming election, or in 2024. Two of the remaining three seats were filled in 2020. But even in this moment of institutional change, when a vacancy occurs it is a big deal.

And a Supreme Court vacancy is also a big opportunity -- for the Court, certainly, but also for the various constituencies and components of the body politic.

The Puerto Rican Bar Association and Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Y. Martinez have already registered strong disappointment with the Court's prompt announcement that Appellate Court Justice Joy V. Cunningham will succeed Chief Justice Anne M. Burke when Burke steps down on November 30.

Because of this prompt appointment, Cunningham will be able to run in the 2024 primary as an incumbent; this proved to be of great benefit to Justice Burke when she ran for her first full term in 2008 (Burke was filling the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Mary Ann G. McMorrow when she ran for a full term). Her Cook County colleagues, incoming-Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis and Justice P. Scott Neville, Jr., were also serving pursuant to interim appointments when they were first elected to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Receiving an interim appointment is no guarantee of victory -- a good lawyer never guarantees anything -- but recent history does suggest incumbency confers a significant advantage.

Without further preface, then, here is the statement issued yesterday by the Puerto Rican Bar Associaiton:

Just in time for the commencement of Hispanic Heritage month:

The Illinois Supreme Court has repeatedly emphasized its commitment to diversity in the judiciary and a judicial system free of bias. So much so that in 2020, the Supreme Court hired a Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer to foster diverse, equitable, and inclusive leadership and staffing. According to Merriam-Webster, the word diversity means “the inclusion of different types of people (as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization.” Inclusion is not just Black and White.

Opportunities to increase diversity in the Illinois Supreme Court are few and far in between. Once elected, justices serve 10-year terms, at the end of which they stand for retention votes. On September 12, Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Anne Burke announced her intention to step down from the bench at the end of November. The justices finally had an opportunity to further diversify the Supreme Court by appointing a Latino to fill her vacancy, but failed to do so. This is despite the fact that between 2010 and 2021, the share of the population that identifies as Latino in Cook County grew the most, increasing 2 percentage points to 26%, now making it Chicago’s second largest racial or ethnic group. Yet only 7.5 percent of Cook County judges identify as Latino. Of the 54 justices on the Illinois Appellate Court only one is Latino. And there are zero Latino justices at the Illinois Supreme Court. This missed opportunity shocks the conscience.

It’s important to have Latino judges because perception matters and Latinos are disproportionally represented in the criminal justice system. Studies have shown that diversity leads to fairer results in civil cases as well. As Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund previously stated regarding the appointment of Latino judges on the federal court, “We don’t just need diversity — we need equity, a concept that recognizes the relative size and importance of our population.”

The fact that the Illinois Supreme Court failed to appoint a Latino to fill the Supreme Court vacancy is indicative of the low priority of Latinos to them and that is unacceptable. It is time for the Illinois Supreme Court justices to stop paying lip service to the principles of diversity/inclusion and actually practice what they preach.

The statement from Clerk Martinez sounds many of the same themes:

Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke announced her retirement on Monday, September 12, 2022. The Supreme Court them immediately filled her vacancy.

The composition of the Illinois Supreme Court will now be 4 White and 3 African American Justices. Is my sincere belief that the Illinois Supreme Court missed an excellent opportunity to diversify its ranks. It should be noted that Latinos represent 26% of Cook County’s population and 33% of the population of the City of Chicago. Therefore, the Illinois Supreme Court should have considered one of the many highly qualified Latino judges that currently serve in our judiciary and should have chosen one of them to be elevated to serve on the Supreme Court.

• Hispanics have only 1 of the 54 seats on the Illinois Appellate Courts.
• Hispanic represent only 7.5% of the Judges in the Circuit Court of Cook County.
• Hispanics make up over 26% of the Cook County’s population.
• Hispanics make up 33% of the population in the City of Chicago.
• The Supreme Court had highly qualified Hispanic Judges to choose from in order to give us representation on the Illinois Supreme Court.

The Illinois Supreme Court just recently hired Deanie Brown to serve as the court’s Diversity and Inclusion Officer in order to sustain and adhere to equitable decisions in terms of the diversifying the Illinois courts and its staff. Hispanics are now left to question the purpose of such a hire when the obvious choice to diversify the court would have been one of those above-mentioned Hispanic judges.

Once again, our community was excluded and marginalized.

The 2024 election cycle can’t come soon enough for all of us. We will march to the polls and vote our way into that exclusive club that is the Supreme Court of Illinois.