Resources for Cook County judicial voters

Bumped up for greater visibility and revised 11/4

Cook County voters will have a say in the election of five new judges this November, one countywide, three in the north suburban 12th subciruit, and one in the suburban 18th subcircuit. (Scroll down for links on specific contested races.)

Technically, there are many more Cook County judicial vacancies that will be filled when the results of this election are certified, but there are no contests for any of these vacancies. All of these, including a new jusitice of the Illinois Supreme Court and four justices of the Illinois Appellate Court, were chosen by voters in the Democratic Primary in March and are now running unopposed.

But Cook County judicial voters do get to determine whether 78 local jurists get to remain on the bench. Two Appellate Court justices are seeking new 10-year terms and 76 Circuit Court judges are asking voters to retain them for new 6-year terms. (Well... 75, actually, but there are 76 names on the ballot. Let's not confuse things more than we have to.)

That's a lot of judges.

Voters may glaze over, just a bit, at the 'bedsheet ballot' for retention judges. If you are one of these, allow me to let you in on a deep, dark secret: We lawyers tend to glaze over on the retention ballot, too.

Here's why: The busiest lawyer will not have appeared before every retention judge. Our lawyers, our judges, and our courts are too specialized in Cook County for that to ever happen. And even if the busiest lawyer has appeared before many, he or she will have appeared before some on too few occasions to form any reasonable opinion of those judges' fitness for another term.

To responsibly exercise our franchise, even us lawyers need help. We rely on our brothers and sisters on the many bar association Judicial Evaluation Committees to gather information and form opinions on those judges we do not ourselves know.

The Chicago Bar Association and the 13 bar groups that together comprise the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screening conduct separate investigations on retention judges, including contacting attorneys that the judges have identified as appearing before them. The Alliance groups conduct joint investigations and hearings, but each bar group forms, and expresses, its own opinion about each judge. Some bar groups provide written explanations of their findings; most do not. While the bar groups consider the same information, not all always reach the same conclusions about the merits of particular judges.

Thus, particularly where there are differences of opinion among the bar groups, lawyers, just like non-lawyer voters, have to make up their own minds.

And lawyers, just like everyone else, have to cast about for other sources of information that may be persuasive. (Gosh, I hope I won't get in trouble with the Guild for spilling these secrets....)

One type of resource that a lot of us rely on -- besides asking our friends who have practices that bring them before judges we don't usually get to see -- or the Retention Judges' own website -- are the opinions of non-lawyers that spend a lot of time in courtrooms -- think police and reporters.

This doesn't mean we necessarily agree with what these worthies may think -- I am certain that some people scour the FOP endorsements carefully to make sure they don't accidentally vote for someone that the police union likes. On the other hand, other people may carefully consider the Girl, I Guess Guide to make certain that they don't vote for someone that the guide endorses. People are often contrary critters. (And what happens when the FOP and the Girl, I Guess Guide agree that a particular candidate is good... or bad... is there any danger of explosion?)

The interactive Injustice Watch Check Your Judges Guide is a valuable and increasingly influential resource for voters -- lawyers included -- seeking information in judicial elections. This year, just as the bar groups were releasing, or about to release, their retention candidate evaluations, On October 2, Injustice Watch published a story about two retention candidates, Judges Shannon O'Malley and E. Kenneth Wright, Jr., "Two Cook County judges claim homestead exemptions in Will County." The story, by Kelly Garcia and David Jackson, makes the case that neither Judge O'Malley nor Judge Wright actually live in Cook County. (My column about the controversy is here, if you're interested.)

The story threw a monkey wrench into the plans of the various JECs. The CBA pulled its initial favorable ratings of Wright and O'Malley; it has since issued a negative rating on O'Malley (story to come). The Injustice Watch disclosures were cited in the narrative evaluations issued by the Chicago Council of Lawyers and the Illinois State (links follow).

Injustice Watch is not the only publication regularly covering the courts. The focus of CWBChicago's reporting is also on the criminal courts.

This year, for the first time, CWBChicago made a specific endorsement in a retention race (asking for a 'no' vote on the retention of Judge Carol Howard). Voters may find this collection of CWBChicago articles helpful in evaluating other judges on the retention ballot.

Now here's where things get a bit circular. Injustice Watch reports all the bar ratings. FWIW reports all the bar ratings. VoteForJudges.org reports all the bar ratings. We all link to each other. Charlie Meyerson's Chicago Public Square Voter Guide Guide (not a typo - it's a guide to voter guides) also links to bar recommendations, Injustice Watch, and Girl, I Guess.

Visit some or all of these to reassure yourself that you've got all the relevant and available information... but, in addition, check out these prior FWIW posts which you may also find useful:

Prior FWIW articles on the 2024 Retention Election:

• Seventy-seven of 78 Cook County jurists recommended for retention by the Chicago Bar Association (but, see also, CBA reconsiders O'Malley rating; Wright rating still "Pending" as of Saturday, Nov. 2 and BREAKING: CBA announces "Not Recommended" Rating for Judge E. Kenneth Wright, Jr.);
• Chicago Council of Lawyers finds 12 Cook County jurists Well Qualified for retention;
• Chicago Council of Lawyers finds four Cook County judges "Not Qualified" for retention;
• ISBA releases narrative explanations of its ratings of Cook County judicial retention candidates;
• A small change in the Alliance retention grids from yesterday....; and
• On the judicial retention ballot, the default vote should be "yes".

Prior FWIW articles on 2024 contested Cook County judicial races

• Organizing the Data: Countywide Flannery vacancy;
• Organizing the Data: 18th Subcircuit - Converted from Associate Judgeship of Linn;
• Organizing the Data: 12th Subcircuit - Dickler vacancy;
• Organizing the Data: 12th Subcircuit - Quinn vacancy; and
• Organizing the Data: 12th Subcircuit - Schleifer vacancy.