CBA issues updated ratings for 12th Subcircuit candidates

FWIW has confirmed this morning that the Chicago Bar Association has found 12th Subcircuit candidate Pamela Curran Smith (pictured at left) "Qualified" in her bid for the Quinn vacancy.

My earlier post profiling the Quinn vacancy has been updated accordingly.

Readers scrolling to the comments in the linked post will see that that candidate called me out for publishing the CBA's "not recommended" rating; she expressly denied that she "declined to participate" in the CBA's screening process. I had relied on the rating issued with the CBA's Voters' Guide for the March 2024 primary in preparing my post.

In my experience, bar ratings, once issued (and once the regular appeal process has been exhausted), do not change between the primary and general elections. I can recall an instance where a candidate rating was withdrawn (only to be reinstated later) -- but, until now, I can not recall a single instance where this kind of change has occurred.

The operative words in the preceding sentence are "until now."

In the course of investigating the question this morning I learned, from a reliable CBA source, that there were a few candidates who received "Not Recommended" ratings during the primary season because "we did not receive their completed questionnaires in time to conduct an investigation. Part of this turned out to not be completely their fault and we decided in all fairness to allow them to submit their questionnaires and go through our process."

Ms. Smith was one of the candidates who was allowed to proceed with the screening process after this determination was made.

The CBA also today provided FWIW with an updated "Qualified" letter to 12th Subcircuit candidate Alon Stein (Dickler vacancy). He was rated "Qualfied" for the primary as well, and, as I had done with Ms. Smith, I had used the language from the CBA's primary voters' guide in my Organizing the Data post. However, since the language of the CBA's explanation of its rating has changed, I have updated that post as well, to reflect the CBA's current language.

Finally, the CBA has advised FWIW that its general election voters guide (the Smart Guide) should be available soon. FWIW will have that guide when available.