Ocasio appointed to Appellate Court; Coghlan moved into 'up or out' slot

In an Order entered today, the Illinois Supreme Court assigned Judge Ramon Ocasio III to the Appellate Court, filling the vacancy that will be created when Justice Mathias W. Delort steps down next month.

The key word in the foregoing sentence is also the one linked to the Court's Order.

"Assigned" means that Ocasio will join the Appellate Court but will remain a Circuit Court judge. He doesn't have to run for Delort's vacancy to stay there; his assignment is effective September 29 "and until further order of the Court."

This is indeed fortunate for Judge Ocasio, who just withdrew from the Deomcratic Party's county slate. Only a couple of weeks ago, Ocasio was slated to be the Party's candidate for the vacancy to which he will now be assigned.

Or, rather, sort of assigned. See, he will "occupy" Justice Delort's "position" in the Fifth Division of the First District and the cases that go with it. But, technically, he is not assigned to Justice Delort's forthcoming vacancy.

However, as the saying goes, for every door that opens, a window slams shut right on someone else's hand.

Well, maybe that's not exactly right... but it's close.

Mary Ellen Coghlan was the Presiding Judge of the Probate Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County when she was assigned to the Appellate Court in the Summer of 2019. In light of Covid and all, 2019 is often mistaken for 'last year,' but it's really not. Or so my calendar claims. However, if you'll click on the link in this paragraph, you'll see that I used the word 'appointed' when I should have used 'assigned.' (Maybe I have learned something in the intervening years.)

In a separate Order entered today, or, in other words, that dreaded "further order of the Court," the Supreme Court reassigned Justice Coghlan to Justice Delort's position... the one that will be filled by election next year... so that Justice Coghlan's assignment to the Appellate Court now carries with it an end date of December 2, 2024. But she keeps her present cases, while, technically, Judge Ocasio takes Coghlan's position on the Appellate Court.

To stay on the Appellate Court after December 2, 2024, Justice Coghlan must run for, and win, election to one of the four vacancies up for election. Three of those vacancies are held by her similarly situated colleagues. They knew about their reassignments in time to seek, and obtain, slating by the Cook County Democratic Party for those vacancies. Not so with Justice Coghlan.

The good news for Justice Coghlan is that, because this is an assignment and not an appointment, she can return to the Circuit Court in good standing on the first Monday in December 2024. She was retained as a Circuit Court judge, in the ordinary course, in 2020.