Yolanda Harris Sayre to be sworn in Friday as Circuit Court judge

Pursuant to an order entered today by the Illinois Supreme Court, Yolanda Harris Sayre, unopposed candidate for the Cassandra Lewis vacancy in the 5th Subcircuit, will be sworn in Friday, February 2, to that vacancy.

Today's order brings to eight the total number of newly appointed judges, all drawn from the ranks of unopposed candidates, all being temporarily appointed to the vacancies to which they will be elected in November.

Sayre's appointment, like the others, is effective Friday and ends on the first Monday in December. Her appointment order, like the others in this new, and new kind of, judicial class, notes that she "has received recent positive ratings from members of the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screening and the Chicago Bar Association following the interviews and evaluations."

Each of the appointment orders also stress that this is being done as a matter of "public necessity in order to ensure a more adequate level of judicial staffing within the Circuit Court of Cook County." It effectively makes up for the associate judgeships that have been 'converted' into new subcircuit positions -- and perhaps faster than a class of associate judgeships might have been selected as well.

The Supreme Court's press release concerning the announcement is here.

Sayre was slated for a countywide vacancy by the Cook County Democratic Party in 2022. In this election cycle, as FWIW readers may recall, Sayre was slated by the Cook County Democratic Party as its second alternate for any late-opening countywide vacancies. However, Sayre told slatemakers that she was eyeing a run for the 5th Subcircuit so, in an unusual move, the Party stipulated that, should Sayre make the 5th Subcircuit run, Ava George Stewart, who had been designated as the 6th alternate, would skip ahead of those in front of her and take Sayre's place. Running in a subcircuit race turned into a great career move for Sayre.