Who Sits Where: Star-Spangled Banner Edition

Updated July 13, 2023

On a recent family vacation, I had the privilege of participating in the flag-raising ceremony at Ft. McHenry in Baltimore. This is a picture of that flag flying over the fort. It is the same size as the original flag raised on the morning of September 14, 1814. The broad stripes and bright stars (15 of each) of the original inspired lawyer Francis Scott Key to write a poem, "The Defense of Fort McHenry," which could be sung to the tune of a popular English drinking song, "To Anacreon in Heaven."

The first stanza of that poem became our National Anthem, although not until 1931. True fact, and one I didn't learn until embarassingly late in life: The last two words of same are not "play ball."

A lot of folks in Baltimore were watching the Brits bombard Ft. McHenry through the perilous fight on September 13, 1814, but Francis Scott Key had a unique, if uncomfortable, vantage point: He was interned by the British, on a truce ship, under the watchful eyes of a detachment of Royal Marines, right in the heart of the British fleet raining rockets and bombs at the fort.

Key was there in a professional capacity, having successfully negotiated the release of Dr. William Beanes who, with two other Maryland physicians, had rounded up and jailed a bunch of British stragglers and deserters that stopped to loot deserted farms near Beanes' home in Upper Marlboro while marching back from the August 24 burning of Washington D.C. The small posse of physicians didn't catch all the miscreants; some skedaddled back to camp and informed the chain of command about the fate of their lagging brothers.

The British commanders ordered the arrest of all three doctors, but they were particularly peeved with Dr. Beanes. He was about the only man left in town when the Brits marched through on their way to burn Washington; the senior officers had dined with Dr. Beanes on that occasion and had formed the opinion that he was sympathetic to their cause. The National Park Service's Ft. McHenry website states that Dr. Beanes had promised the Brits he would not interfere with British operations. The Brits seemed to think that rounding up looters constituted interference. It is also possible that the stragglers who escaped capture exaggerated Barnes' martial behavior, while (perhaps understandably) minimizing their own fault in the affair. In any event, the Brits were quite miffed to find out that Dr. Beanes was not as friendly as they thought; while they released the two other doctors arrested with Beanes before the end of August, the Brits wanted to bring Beanes back to Halifax and try him as a spy.

Most of us, I hope, learned at least the outline of this story while still in school. But the story as told to school children gives short shrift to Key's careful, lawyerly preparations for his mission.

First, Key tracked down President Madison and secured his permission for the venture. Next, apparently pursuant to the President's advice, he made arrangements to go out to the fleet with Prisoner Exchange Colonel John Stuart Skinner. Skinner would have been known to the British from past negotiations.

Finally, and perhaps decisively, as it turned out, Key went to Bladensburg, Maryland, the site of the Americans' humiliating defeat on August 24, that had left Washington open, unprotected, and ripe for burning.

Complete as the British victory had been, there were (of course) several British casualties. Key met with the American doctors who were treating the enemy wounded. He solicited letters from the British casualties to carry with him on his mission to the British fleet. The NPS website says he got a sackful. And Key made sure that the letters found their way to the British Army commander, the doomed Maj. Gen. Robert Ross.

Negotiations did not go smoothly at first. While Key and his party were invited to dine with senior British officers on board the fleet's flagship, Col. Skinner got into a beef with Admiral Edward Codrington over the fact that the Brits had burned Skinner's house. General Ross was present for the luncheon, too, and offered the opinion that Dr. Beanes was no gentleman and should not be released for any reason.

On the other hand, Ross had read the letters penned by the British prisoners at Bladensburg praising the humane treatment they had received from their American captors. According to the NPS website, "Ross expressed his relief and gratitude about the kind treatment his men had received, and stated that for this reason, and no other, he would consent to the release of Dr. Beanes."

But there was still the battle to be fought over the fate of Baltimore. And inasmuch as battle plans had been freely discussed at the luncheon attended by Key and Skinner, the Brits felt it prudent to detain them (and the now-liberated Dr. Beanes), albeit on the ship on which Key and Skinner had come, under the eyes, and bayonets, of the Royal Marines.

The bombardment raged all day and all night on September 13, capped by a driving rainstorm -- you can follow the links in this post to find out precisely which British ships were responsible for the rockets' red glare and which were responsible for the bombs bursting in air -- but the bottom line was this: Between the rain and fog and smoke from the artillery on both sides, Key and his fellow detainees could not initially see, by the dawn's early light, on the morning of September 14, when the bombardment ceased, the flag they had seen at the twilight's last gleaming and only occasionally thereafter, when illuminated by rockets and bombs. They may well have asked one another, "Oh, say, can you see...?"

On that morning of September 14, though still threatened by the guns of the British fleet, the commander of Ft. McHenry, Maj. George Armistead, ordered his men to conduct their usual flag-raising ceremony and to fly, on this particular morning, the largest flag they had available, much larger than the 'storm flag' flown during the battle. The flag selected for that morning was one that that Armistead had commissioned when he assumed command of the fort, a flag "so large that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a distance." The post band played "Yankee Doodle."

The morning that I was there, the ranger noted that, now and again, some visitor will ask why the band played "Yankee Doodle" and not "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Hopefully no one to whom such a question might occur is planning a campaign for the Cook County Circuit Court.

And with that abrupt transition, we return to the ostensible purpose of this post, namely the updated, and wholly unofficial, list of Cook County judicial vacancies.

Some of the judges whose vacancies are listed below may still be coming into work -- but, according to information received, they have advised of their intent to leave, thus creating the vacancy.

Any and all errors of omission or commission in the following list are mine alone and I am grateful for additions and corrections provided. This list will be updated periodically as events warrant.

Supreme Court Vacancy

Vacancy of the Hon. Anne M. Burke -- Joy V. Cunningham

Appellate Court Vacancies

Vacancy of the Hon. Maureen E. Connors -- Mary L. Mikva
Vacancy of the Hon. Joy V. Cunningham -- Cynthia Y. Cobbs
Vacancy of the Hon. Eileen O'Neill Burke -- Carl A. Walker

Countywide Circuit Court Vacancies

Vacancy of the Hon. Vincent Gaughan -- Corrine Cantwell Heggie
Vacancy of the Hon. Catherine Haberkorn -- Sarah Rodak Johnson
Vacancy of the Hon. Arnette Hubbard -- Deidre M. Dyer
Vacancy of the Hon. Marcia Maras -- Arlene Y. Coleman-Romeo
Vacancy of the Hon. Raymond W. Mitchell -- Neil H. Cohen
Vacancy of the Hon. Timothy P. Murphy -- Edward J. Underhill
Vacancy of the Hon. Lorna Propes -- Debjani D. Desai
Vacancy of the Hon. William Raines -- Unfilled
Vacancy of the Hon. Laura M. Sullivan -- Unfilled
Vacancy of the Hon. Debra B. Walker -- Chloé G. Pedersen

Subcircuit Vacancies

3rd Subcircuit
Vacancy of the Hon. Edward S. Harmening -- Unfilled

4th Subcircuit
Vacancy of the Hon. Peter A. Felice -- Unfilled
Vacancy of the Hon. Edward J. King -- Phillip J. Fowler
Vacancy of the Hon. Edward M. Maloney -- Unfilled

5th Subcircuit
Vacancy of the Hon. Casandra Lewis -- Unfilled

7th Subcircuit
"A" Vacancy* -- Owens J. Shelby

8th Subcircuit
Vacancy of the Hon. Ann Collins-Dole -- Unfilled

10th Subcircuit
Vacancy of the Hon. Clare E. McWilliams -- Unfilled
Vacancy of the Hon. Gregory J. Wojkowski -- James S. Murphy-Aguilu

11th Subcircuit
Vacancy of the Hon. Ann Finley Collins -- Unfilled
Vacancy of the Hon. Paula M. Daleo -- Unfilled

12th Subcircuit
Vacancy of the Hon. Grace G. Dickler -- Unfilled
Vacancy of the Hon. Marguerite Quinn -- Unfilled
Vacancy of the Hon. Andrea M. Schleifer -- Unfilled

13th Subcircuit
Vacancy of the Hon. Samuel J. Betar III -- Unfilled
Vacancy of the Hon. Ketki Shroff Steffen -- Unfilled

14th Subcircuit
Vacancy of the Hon. James N. O'Hara -- Unfilled
Vacancy of the Hon. Daniel J. Pierce -- Unfilled

15th Subcircuit
"A" Vacancy** -- Unfilled

Vacancies in the new 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th Subcircuits will come into existence as associate judges leave office. No more than 10 such vacancies will be created in any one election cycle -- a maximum of two, that is, in each of the new five subcircuits.

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*  This is the vacancy assigned to the 7th Subcircuit upon the resignation of Judge Irwin J. Solganick. Or upon the resignation of Judge Michael Toomin. See, note post.
**  This is the vacancy assigned to the 15th Subcircuit upon the resignation of Judge Michael P. Toomin. Or upon the resignation of Judge Irwin J. Solganick. It works either way. And, if I ever figure out which is correct, I'll update accordingly.