Appellate Court Justices David W. Ellis and Thomas E. Hoffman have indicated that they will ask voters for new 10-year terms. The 77 Circuit Court judges who filed for retention (seeking new six-year terms) include 21 countywide Circuit Court judges and 56 subcircuit judges.
If history is any guide, a few judges who file for retention will withdraw from the ballot prior to the November election; indeed, one, Judge Thomas W. Murphy, already has. (His July retirement will create a 3rd Subcircuit vacancy in 2026).
The retention ballot is a straight 'yes' or 'no' proposition. For each judge seeking retention, voters are asked, 'shall judge X be retained in office?' To be retained in office, a judge must receive 'yes' votes from more than 60% of those voting on the question (or, as it sometimes phrased, 60% + 1). This requirement applies to judges of all Illinois courts, including justices of the Appellate and Supreme Courts.
This year's retention class is somewhat larger than those in recent years. For comparison sake, there were 58 Circuit Court judges filing for retention in 2022 (although there was a Supreme Court justice and six Appellate Court justices filing for retention then, too). In 2020, 64 Circuit Court judges (and two Appellate Court justices) filed for retention. In 2018, there were 61 Circuit Court judges (and one Suprme Court justice and one Appellate Court justice) who filed for retention.
Most of the Cook County judges up for retention were first elected in subcircuits. However, these judges, just like those initially elected countywide, must face the entire county electorate on the retention ballot. Generally, the longest serving judges are at the top of the ballot, the newest judges (those elected six years ago) are at the bottom. Judges with equivalent lengths of service (6 years, 12 years, 18 years, etc.) are listed in alphabetical order... some judges have longer service times because of Supreme Court appointments prior to their elections... but they are listed with the group according to the year they were first elected. Here, subject to correction as may (likely) be necessary, is a list of the judges filing for retention in expected ballot order (there are only 76 names because Judge Thomas Murphy's name has already been removed):
- Kathy M. Flanagan
- Martin B. Agran
- Ronald F. Bartkowicz
- Stuart F. Lubin
- James M. Varga
- E. Kenneth Wright, Jr.
- Maura Slattery Boyle
- Maragaret Mary Brosnahan
- Daniel Patrick Brennan
- Ellen L. Flannigan
- Carol M. Howard
- Jill C. Marise
- Mike McHale
- James Patrick Murphy
- Ramon Ocasio, III
- Mary Colleen Roberts
- Carl Anthony Walker
- Carl B. Boyd
- Tommy Brewer
- Michael R. Clancy
- Daniel B. Degnan
- John H. Ehrlich
- Terry Gallagher
- William G. Gamboney
- Celia Louise Gamrath
- Elizabeth Mary Hayes
- Lionel Jean-Baptiste
- Martin C. Kelley
- Kimberly D. Lewis
- Aicha Marie MacCarthy
- Lisa Ann Marino
- Diann Karen Marsalek
- Michael Tully Mullen
- Karen Lynn O'Malley
- Paul S. Pavlus
- Cynthia Ramirez
- Erica L. Reddick
- Beatriz Santiago
- Regina Ann Scannicchio
- Michael B. Barrett
- Tianna Ellis Blakely
- Joel Chupack
- Elizabeth Ciaccia-Lezza
- H. Yvonne Coleman
- Kevin Patrick Cunningham
- Colleen Reardon Daly
- Adrienne Elaine Davis
- Kent Delgado
- Beatriz A. Frausto-Sandoval
- Peter Michael Gonzalez
- Ieshia Gray
- Jack Hagerty
- Robert Harris
- Toya T. Harvey
- Cecilia Anne Horan
- Lindsay Huge
- Preston Jones, Jr.
- Kathaleen Theresa Lanahan
- Thomas F. McGuire
- Scott McKenna
- David R. Navarro
- Shannon O'Malley
- Erika Orr
- Linda Perez
- Marian Emily Perkins
- Clare Joyce Quish
- Joanne F. Rosado
- Stephnanie Saltouros
- Debra A. Seaton
- James "Jamie" Shapiro
- Tom Sam Sianis
- Rosa Maria Silva
- Kathryn Maloney Vahey
- Andrea Michelle Webber
- Arthur Wesley Willis
- Jeanne Marie Wrenn
That’s a long list of “no’s.”
ReplyDeleteHow can you research them to see if they are any good? In particular are they soft on sentencing.
ReplyDelete