It's been so cold and snowy. Somehow, this makes me feel warmer.

Maybe it will have the same effect on you, too.

Personal to the person who left a comment with a phone number

Send me an email (jackleyhane@yahoo.com).

I want to be able to verify to whom I would be talking.

I hope you understand.

FWIW now has six million page views

It happened yesterday, possibly because a lot of FWIW readers were at home on account of the cold. (For those, like me, who weren't paying attention, courts were closed yesterday due to the subzero temperatures. Courthouses in Markham, Skokie, and Maywood were open, but only as warming centers.)

Anyway, FWIW has now passed six million page views. This is an aggregate figure. FWIW has been around since 2006, and it has always been published on Blogger.com. But Google, Blogger's parent, was not keeping track of page views back then; I'm not sure when it started.

I can tell you that the five million page view mark was reached in early April 2025, roughly 292 days ago. The four million page view milestone was reached on or shortly before May 1, 2023, roughly a thousand days ago.

FWIW reached the million page view mark in August 2015, the two million mark in March 2018, and the three million mark in October 2020.

It took 941 days for FWIW to go from one million to two million page views. It took 10 days longer -- 951 days -- to get from two million to three million. It took 917 days to go from three million to four million. But it only took another 709 days to go from four to five million. And now it has taken only 292 days to go from five to six million. I wish I could get that kind of growth on my investments. I also wish I could claim that this growth is attributable to some sincere growth in interest in our local judiciary in general, or in FWIW in particular.

But, alas.

On my increasingly infrequent trips downtown, I see precious little evidence that suggests that FWIW is better known now that it was in the past. This has always been a very specialized, niche site (at least since I started seriously covering Cook County judicial races in 2008). There are only so many people who might be interested in this topic. Of course, readers could be flocking here because of my crisp, entertaining prose, their limited interest in the comings and goings of our local judiciary notwithstanding....

And then I wake up.

But, however it has happened, I have accumulated six million page views here on FWIW. I'm grateful.

U.S. District Court Blood Drive February 4

I know you say you've given your last drop of blood to the legal profession. Or to taxes. Whatever. You almost certainly were exaggerating when you said it.

In fact, you might actually be able to spare a pint for the Red Cross blood drive which will be held at the Dirkesen Federal Courthouse, Room 1023, on Wednesday, February 4.

Appointments are preferred, but walk-ins will be welcomed. Donors will be asked to bring a photo ID and their blood donor card, or tow other forms of ID.

For an appointment call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or visit RedCrossBlood.org and use the sponsor code: USdistrictcourt.

The Red Cross says prospective donors can save up to 15 minutes when donating blood by using "RapidPass!" (The exclamation point is supplied by the Red Cross.) Visit RedCrossBlood.org/RapidPass for more information.

A couple of announcements concerning judicial retirements

FWIW has covered judicial elections for many years. When new judges arrive on the scene, by election or appointment, FWIW is right there to tell you about it. Eventually, anyway.

But when judges retire, it's a different story. Judges step down for their own reasons, in their own time, and, unless it is a high profile retirement, like the recently announced retirement of Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis, the larger public usually takes no notice. But I found a couple of items this week about judges who are stepping down soon that I thought might be worth sharing.

I don't pretend to know anything about this event, other than it is meant to honor retiring Judge Sophia Hall, but it certainly looks like it might be a lot of fun.

I also saw this announcement about the pending retirement of Associate Judge Sybil C. Thomas:

Organizers here are putting together a memory book to be presented to Judge Thomas. Persons who wish to contribute to this can use the link in the preceding sentence. The deadline for submissions is January 31.

FWIW will never be able to cover judcial retirements to any serious extent. But... just this once, anyway... it seems like it might be alright.

Judge Thaddeus Wilson assigned to the Appellate Court

I spotted this congratulatory notice on Facebook this morning.

The Supreme Court's Order was entered yesterday: The Supreme Court has assigned Judge Thaddeus Wilson to the Appellate Court to take the place of Judge Sanjay T. Tailor, who is being elevated to the Supreme Court. The assignment is effective February 6 and remains in effect "until further order of the Court."

Chamber Music concert February 1

Members of the Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra and CBA Chorus will be in concert Sunday, February 1, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m., at PianoForte, 1335 S. Michigan. The flyer for the event is reproduced above.

Advance tickets for this chamber music performance are available at this EventBrite link. Tickets will also be available at the door on afternoon of February 1 ($25 for adults, $20 for students). PianoForte provides parking advice on this page of its website.

January 29 Karaoke fundraiser for Jon Stromsta

Well, you gotta admit, it's different: Supporters of 20th Subcircuit judicial candidate Jon Stromsta are planning a Karaoke Party for their candidate on Thursday, January 29, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at Trader Todd's, 3216 N. Sheffield Ave.

Tickets are $50 each, and the price includes two drinks and pizza. Sponsorships are available for $100, $200, $500, or $1000. The sponsors say that guests will be encouraged to take their own turns at the mike. To purchase tickets or sponsorships, use this ActBlue link.

Fearless prediction: Justice Tailor will be slated for the Theis vacancy on the Illinois Supreme Court in 2028

Disclaimer: This essay contains a prediction. I don't usually make predictions, because, if I really could predict the future, I'd wait until the Powerball jackpot got large, buy one ticket, and really retire. Retire in style. And, besides, past performance is not indicative of future results, etc., etc.

On the other hand, one of the things that makes us human is our ability to discern patterns. Successful pattern recognition was vital to the evolution of our species: Our remote ancestors, back in Africa, learned to recognize which subtle noise in the brush was a stalking predator, and which noise was just the night breeze. (The ones who couldn't figure out which was which didn't get the opportunity to become our ancestors.) Nowadays we still try and find patterns in our surroundings. We're always trying to 'connect the dots.' If you are inclined to agree with the person who suggests a pattern of some sort, you may hail him or her as a pundit... if you disagree, you might revile that person as a conspiracy theorist.

Have I adequately managed your expectations yet?

Gosh, I hope so.

Anyway, turning to the case of Justice Sanjay T. Tailor: The Order elevating Tailor specifies that he "is appointed to the Supreme Court of Illinois to the position currently held by the Honorable Mary Jane Theis." Contrast this with the language of the 2022 Order which put Justice Tailor on the Appellate Court: "[T]he Honorable Sanjay T. Tailor, Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, is assigned to duty in the Appellate Court of Illinois, First District."

While assigned to the Appellate Court, under the terms of the Supreme Court's 2022 Order, Justice Tailor remained a Circuit Court judge. He could be returned to that court whenever the Supreme Court decided to end his assignment. But now? Justice Tailor is being appointed to the Supreme Court. Come January 30, his 9th Subcircuit seat will be vacant. To remain on the bench in any capacity, Justice Tailor will have to stand for election.

So... presumably... he is running for the Supreme Court.

It doesn't have to be that way; he might choose not to run and simply retire when his appointment ends. Service on the State's highest court, even for only a couple of years, would be a great way to conclude a career. And, in Justice Tailor's case, such a meteoric rise: He was not exactly an overnight sensation, given that he served as an associate judge for roughtly 17 years prior to his appointment to a countywide vacancy in late 2020. But, following that appointment? He ascended through the ranks very rapidly indeed. FWIW readers will recall that Tailor did not run for the countywide vacancy to which he was appointed. Instead, he sought a 9th Subcircuit vacancy -- running unopposed in the 2022 primary. He received his appointment to the Appellate Court before his actual election (he was also unopposed on the November 2022 ballot).

FWIW readers may recall the case of Justice Caswell Crebs. Crebs hailed from Carmi, in White County, Illinois. He was elected a Circuit Judge in the far Downstate 2nd Circuit in 1945. He retired in 1964. In 1969, the Supreme Court called Crebs out of retirement to fill the 5th District vacancy created by the death of Justice Byron O. House. Crebs didn't run for the vacancy; it was subsequently filled by Justice Joseph H. Goldenhersh. Crebs did such a good job of not running for that vacancy that, in 1975, when a Second District vacancy opened up, following the resignation of Justice Charles H. Davis, the Supreme Court invited Crebs back. He did not run for that vacancy either (Justice Thomas H. Moran was elected to fill that seat).

It is possible that Justice Tailor may be following the Caswell Crebs career path.

But I wouldn't bet on it. It is probably significant that the Supreme Court announced Tailor's appointment simultaneously with the news of Justice Theis's resignation. Justice Theis began her career on the Supreme Court pursuant to an interim appointment in 2010; this was announced at the same time as the Court announced the retirement of Justice Thomas R. Fitzgerald. Theis was subsequently slated by the Cook County Democratic Party and won election in her own right in 2012.

In 2018, when Justice Charles E. Freeman retired from the Illinois Supreme Court, the appointment of Justice P. Scott Neville, Jr. was announced at the same time. Justice Neville (now Chief Justice Neville) was subsequently slated by the Cook County Democratic Party and elected in his own right in 2020. Justice Anne Burke retired in 2022; Justice Joy V. Cunningham was appointed as Burke's interim replacement immediately thereafter. Cunningham was thereafter slated by the Cook County Democratic Party and won election in 2024.

I think that's a pattern.

Therefore, while I can't prove it, and certainly no one told me, I suspect that the Supreme Court and Justice Tailor at least a nodding expectation that the Cook County Democratic Party will slate Tailor for the 2028 primary.

Whether Tailor runs or not, of course, there will be a contested primary for the Theis vacancy in 2028. I don't need be cautious in making that prediction.

The crazy early primary calendar. To politicians, this is a feature, not a bug.

You are looking at a dead moth in a notebook; this was the original computer bug. Seriously. You could look it up.

If you are old enough to have taken a code writing class during your formative years, you will have had the unhappy experience of "debugging" your program: looking for the missing parenthesis or quotation mark or command that crashed your whole project. At Loyola, back in the day, though punch cards were even then long obsolete, we had to look for improperly punched cards (hanging chads long before 2000), or cards that had somehow gotten into the wrong order.

The English language expands over time. When talking of many different systems now, not just computers, we talk about "bugs." The maddening way in which modern appliances die two weeks after the expiration of their warranties, for example. But, say economists, planned obsolesence is a feature, not a bug: If you could keep your refrigerator going for 30 years, like your parents kept theirs going, look at all the factory workers who'd be idled. This is supposed to appease you as you shell out for a shiny new appliance that will inevitably fail in five years' (and two weeks) time, just like the one you're replacing.

Whether something is a feature, as opposed to a bug, will oft depend on point of view. If you sell appliances, as long as no one remembers how to make, or is willing to make, the stoves and refrigerators that could last 30 years (that is, as long as everyone makes and markets the same kind of dreck), the short life-cycle is a feature. For those who use the appliances, planned obsolescence is a very big, slimy, poisonous bug.

As it is with appliances, so too with politics. Having an eternity between candidate filing and the actual election helps politicians keep non-politicians from entering the system. A lot of your neighbors may think that they will have an opportunity to 'throw the rascals out' at the next election -- in November 2026. It's not that they're dumb; it is just what they were taught in Civics class. But nearly all the rascals will be already safely in place long before then. In Illinois, some rascals may have to face other rascals in March -- but that's still nearly eight months before the election.

For politicians, this absurd primary calendar is a feature, not a bug.

Politicians are in the business of getting elected... and re-elected. Early primaries are one way of accomplishing this. Although it may be impolite to say so, holding early primaries is absolutely a form of voter suppression, albeit one tactic that receives strong bipartisan support, even in these fractious times. Because you are a regular FWIW reader, you may not have noticed this -- because you would vote whenever an election was held -- you would head out to the polls during a blizzard or a hurricane. You are politically active and (if you do say so yourself) aware. But you are, in fact, a unicorn. Most people, however, being not-unicorns, do not vote in primaries ("I don't want to declare a party" is one of the better-sounding, but still-frivolous, excuses). The earlier the primary, the fewer people who actually vote.

That is exactly the way the politicians want it. Political professionals don't want big turnouts. Hoping for huge turnouts is 1960s League of Women Voters stuff. Political professionals want reliable, predictable turnouts -- and, as a practical matter, that means the fewer voters, the better.

Remember the Bad Old Days? Remember when the unofficial motto of the Cook County Democratic Party was 'we don't want nobody that nobody sent'? You don't? You say you are too young to remember the reign of Richard J. Daley?

Well, perhaps you are too young to remember Da Mare -- but I have sad news for you, bunky -- the Bad Old Days never went away. Some FWIW readers may think they're welcome to participate in politics, even though nobody sent them. But you, friends, are not welcome. Your checkbooks are.

Many FWIW readers hope someday to serve in the judiciary. So they need to get involved in politics. They learn who to call, who to cultivate, what tickets to buy, what things to say. They are lawyers -- and lawyers are very good problem solvers -- and, thankfully, in every election cycle, some good lawyers figure out the system well enough to get on the bench. They don't necessarily have to believe the slogans they are forced to spout in order to get elected (although many presumably do); the issues that consume politicians tend not to surface in Traffic Court. And, while (not being an insider) I can't say this with certainty, I strongly suspect that the politicians really don't mind that some judges are, at best, agnostic on their Great Issues... because judges don't make laws, they only apply the laws the politicians make to the cases that come before them. In other words (and I don't mean this to be hurtful, I'm only saying it because it is true) judges just aren't all that important to the ordinary operation of the political establishment. There's a reason why you need a lot more signatures to run for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District than to run for the bench....

But we could do so much better. If we tried.

---------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE: Bad as our March primary is, NBC News reports this evening that the Illinois Democratic Party is lobbying to move our 2028 primary up. Why? Well, a February primary helped Illinois favorite son Barack Obama secure the White House. Gov. Pritzker is apparently hoping for a similar boost. *Sigh*

February 4 CLE offers guidance for those transferred from the Law Division to the Municipal Division

The Decalogue Society of Lawyers is offering a free, two-hour CLE program on February 4, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., in Courtroom 1501 of the Daley Center, entitled, "You’ve been transferred from Law Division to Courtroom 1501/First Municipal, Now What??"

Speaking at the program will be Judge Alon Stein; Judge Loveleen Ahuja; and Kimberly Atz O'Brien, Administrator of Cook County Mandatory Arbitration Program. The incoming Presiding Judge of the First Municipal Division, Tom Sianis, is expected to offer opening remarks. The flyer for the event is reproduced above.

To register for the program, click on this link.

January 21 fundraiser for Judge Ginger Odom

Supporters of Judge Ginger Odom's bid to hold the 1st Subcircuit seat (she currently serves pursuant to Supreme Court appointment) are planning a fundraiser for Wednesday, January 21, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., in the Chicago office of Clark Hill, 130 E. Randolph St., Suite 3900. The flyer for the event is reproduced above.

Tickets are $150 each, but sponsorships are available (Bronze - $250, Silver - $500, Gold - $1,000, or Platinum - $5,000). For more information, or to order tickets, visit the candidate's website (the fundraiser invite comes up as a popup).

Justice Theis to retire from the Illinois Supreme Court, Judge Sanjay Tailor appointed to fill vacancy

Herewith the Supreme Court's press release (I've added a few links):

llinois Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis has announced her retirement from the Illinois Supreme Court effective January 29, 2026. Justice Theis has served on the Supreme Court since 2010 and retires as one of the most prolific judges in Illinois history, having served in all levels of the judiciary in 40-plus years on the bench. She served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 2022 to 2025. Justice Theis’ full statement on her retirement is available here.

“I am deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to serve,” Justice Theis said. “It has been my foremost goal to further the Court’s mission of providing access to equal justice, ensuring judicial integrity and upholding the rule of law.”

The Supreme Court has constitutional authority to fill interim judicial vacancies and has appointed First District Appellate Court Justice Sanjay T. Tailor to fill Justice Theis’ seat. Justice Tailor, whose term is effective January 30, 2026, through December 4, 2028, will be the first Asian American to serve on the Illinois Supreme Court.

“I am grateful to Justice Mary Jane Theis and the other justices of the Illinois Supreme Court for their confidence and trust in appointing me Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court,” Justice Tailor said. “I also look forward to continuing the work of the Illinois Supreme Court to ensure that our system of justice serves all people fairly and equitably.”

Justice Theis succeeded retired Justice Thomas R. Fitzgerald in 2010, becoming the fourth woman to serve on the high court. The only child of Cook County Circuit Court Judge Kenneth R. Wendt and his wife, Eleanore, Justice Theis was born in Chicago. “When I was in high school,” she remembered, “I would go to his courtroom whenever I had an opportunity and watch the proceedings. It was a time when the law was changing very rapidly. He heard a lot of narcotics cases, and it was a time when issues about the Fourth Amendment were not only on the front pages of the newspapers, but also were important cases in the United States Supreme Court, and it seemed so compelling and exciting.”

Succeeding Justice Anne Burke as Chief Justice, Justice Theis became the fourth woman to serve as Chief on October 26, 2022, with the goal of “increasing public trust and confidence in the courts.” She added that people will accept court rulings if they believe they were impartially treated. “The perception of fairness is what holds together our communities, our court system, the rule of law, and our democracy.” As Chief, Justice Theis oversaw the establishment of the Illinois Courts Commission as an independent state agency to manage complaints against judges by the Judicial Inquiry Board. She also expanded “judicial education beyond the judges but to all the justice partners so that when people come into our courthouses, they will be met by a clerk of the court that has had the same kind of training.”

Justice Theis oversaw the creation of the Supreme Court Executive Committee on the Practice of Law (Executive Committee). The Executive Committee is charged with making recommendations on issues impacting the practice of law and unmet legal needs. It has proposed and passed numerous improvements, including three that took effect July 1, 2025.

“Justice Mary Jane Theis has had an extraordinary record of service to both the bench and bar. She has served with distinction at all levels of the judiciary including most recently as our Chief Justice. During her tenure as Chief, she was a national leader in addressing the unmet legal needs of those individuals who could not afford legal representation or who lived in areas of the state where legal representation was not available. As Chief, she appointed the first Supreme Court Executive Committee on the Practice of Law whose sole mission was to address the unmet legal needs of Illinois residents,” said Attorney J. Timothy Eaton, who serves as Chair of the Executive Committee. “It was through her leadership that the Executive Committee launched many programs to improve access to legal representation. She also was a student of the law, and her thoughtful and scholarly opinions will stand the test of time. She will be sorely missed.”

Justice Theis authored the opinion in Rowe v. Raoul, which declared the law eliminating cash bail in Illinois to be constitutional. Kankakee County State’s Attorney James Rowe filed a lawsuit against Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul challenging the constitutionality of the 2021 Illinois Safety, Accountability, Fairness, and Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act that eliminated cash bail in the state of Illinois. After the Kankakee County Circuit Court declared the law unconstitutional, the Illinois Supreme Court in a 5-2 decision reversed the lower court’s judgment and affirmed the SAFE-T Act’s constitutionality. Justice Theis wrote that “our constitution creates a balance between the individual rights of defendants and the individual rights of crime victims. The Act’s pretrial release provisions set forth procedures commensurate with that balance.”

Justice Theis’ three-year term as Chief concluded in October 2025. As an appellate court justice, she served as a Presiding Justice. She was Committee Chair of both the Committee on Judicial Education and the Committee on Judicial Conduct of the Illinois Judicial Conference, and a member of the Supreme Court Rules Committee. Justice Theis was President of the Appellate Lawyers Association and the Illinois Judges Association, as well as President and founding member of the Illinois Judges Foundation. She has been a member of the Board of Governors of the Illinois State Bar Association and the Board of Managers of the Chicago Bar Association and is a member of the Women's Bar Association of Illinois.

After graduation from Loyola University in 1971, Justice Theis pursued a law degree from the University of San Francisco. She later said that an internship at the Marin County, California, public defender’s office helped shaped her career. Returning to Chicago, she served as an assistant Cook County public defender until 1983, when she began her judicial career as a Cook County associate judge and in 1988 won election as a circuit judge. In 1993, she was assigned to the First District Appellate Court and was elected to the position in 1994, serving for 17 years.

On October 26, 2010, the Supreme Court appointed Justice Theis to fill the Fitzgerald vacancy.

“I am humbled by the confidence the Illinois Supreme Court has placed in me,” she told the Illinois State Bar Association at the time. “The fact is I love being a judge very much. I love the intellectual part of it. But most importantly, I have an opportunity to shape the law that affects the lives of the People of Illinois.”

In February 2012, Justice Theis wrote the opinion in People v. Wrice, regarding the 1983 conviction of Stanley Wrice for the abduction, rape, and deviate sexual assault of a Chicago woman. Wrice’s attorneys claimed that after his arrest he had been severely beaten into a confession by two Chicago detectives, both of whom worked under Jon Burge, a police lieutenant who was promoted to commander before being suspended in 1991 and fired in 1993 for systematically torturing black suspects. At the trial, prosecutors introduced Wrice’s alleged confession, and, although no physical evidence linked him to the crime, he was convicted by a jury and spent the next 31 years in prison.

In 2010, following special-prosecutor investigations of beatings by Chicago police, the Illinois Appellate Court ordered a hearing on Wrice’s torture claim. Prosecutors appealed to the Supreme Court. Justice Theis wrote the unanimous opinion, which held that “use of a defendant’s physically coerced confession as substantive evidence of guilt is never harmless error. The defendant has satisfied the cause-and-prejudice test for successive postconviction petitions.” The ensuing hearing culminated in Wrice’s exoneration. At the time of his release from prison, the cases of 25 prisoners convicted in part from coerced confessions obtained by Burge and his subordinates were pending review by the Circuit Court, resulting from the Supreme Court decision.

In March 2012, Justice Theis prevailed in a four-candidate Democratic primary race. In the November election, she easily defeated Cook County circuit judge James G. Riley by about 50 percentage points, earning a full 10-year Supreme Court term. She remarked at the time that the seven justices share a healthy respect and ignore partisan divide. “There are those who like to pigeonhole people and say we’re elected as Democrats and Republicans and, therefore, we must think a certain way,” Justice Theis said. “But if you really look at our cases, that’s not what’s happening at all. I’m proud of that non-partisan sense in our court.”

In 2016, Justice Theis delivered the unanimous 5-0 ruling in Mary J. Jones et al. v. Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago, which struck down a 2014 state law intended to overhaul two of the city’s financially struggling pension systems. The legislation, supported by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, scaled back retirement benefits, required city workers and laborers to increase their retirement contributions in phases over five years, and lowered annual cost-of-living increases for retired workers. In court filings, attorneys for the City contended that the pension systems, not the city, had responsibility for paying out benefits to retirees, and that the municipal fund had just 37 percent of the amount needed to pay future retirement benefits, while the fund for laborers held slightly more than 50 percent of the needed money. “The Illinois Constitution mandates that members of the Funds have ‘a legally enforceable right to receive the benefits they have been promised’ – not merely to receive whatever happens to remain in the Funds,” Justice Theis wrote. “The General Assembly and the City have been on notice since the ratification of the 1970 Constitution that the benefits of membership must be paid in full.”

Justice Theis has taught at numerous judicial education programs, as well as conferences and seminars for the ISBA and CBA, and at Loyola University School of Law, Northwestern University School of Law, and the University of Illinois Chicago Law School. She has received various awards, including the Charles W. Daniels Judicial Leadership Award from the National Association of Pretrial Services Agencies (NAPSA) for the Court’s landmark work in supporting the expansion of pretrial services throughout Illinois. Justice Theis has also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illinois Judges Association, Catholic Lawyer of the Year from the Catholic Lawyers Guild, Celtic Lawyer of the Year from the Celtic Lawyers Society of Chicago, the Mary Heftel Hooten Award from the WBAI, and the Access to Justice Award from the ISBA. Justice Theis is the recipient of the American Constitution Society Legal Legend - Honor from the Chicago Lawyer Chapter.

Justice Sanjay Tailor has been a judge for 23 years, sitting on the trial and appellate courts. His appointment today makes him the first Asian American to serve as a justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. He was first appointed to the bench as an Associate Judge in 2003 and won election as Circuit Judge in 2022. He served in five different divisions of the Circuit Court including as Presiding Judge of the County Division. He also served in the Chancery, Law, Domestic Relations and Municipal Divisions. For the last three years he has served by assignment as a First District Appellate Court justice, including as Presiding Justice of his division.

Before joining the bench, Justice Tailor served as an Assistant State’s Attorney in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. He also practiced law as a senior attorney at the First National Bank of Chicago, and associate at Chapman and Cutler LLP.

Justice Tailor is a board trustee of the Illinois Judicial College, the body entrusted with the continuing education and training of Illinois judges and their justice partners. He is a commissioner of the Illinois Supreme Court’s Commission on Access to Justice. He is also a board trustee of the Judges Retirement System of Illinois.

For two decades, Justice Tailor taught a course on Illinois civil procedure as an adjunct professor at Loyola University of Chicago School of Law. Justice Tailor earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Delaware and received his Juris Doctor with honors from the Loyola University of Chicago School of Law.

He is the President of the Asian American Judges Association of Illinois and a past president of the Lawyers Club of Chicago. His additional professional affiliations include the Illinois Judges Association, the Illinois Judicial Council, the South Asian Bar Association of Chicago, and the Asian American Bar Association of Chicago.

Advocates Society offers dinner and CLE at its January 27 meeting

Here's the flyer:

The Advocates Society will host a CLE program on current practice in the First Municipal District following its meeting on Tuesday, January 27 at the Copernicus Center, 5216 W. Lawrence Ave.

Dinner and cocktails will be served at 6:30, followed by a regular business meeting of the Advocates at 7:00. The CLE program begins at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $20 each for Advocates members, and $30 for non-members. There is a sponsorship opportunity as well: For $100, sponsors will get an event ticket and recognition at the event. Interested persons must register by January 26. To register, follow the instructions on this page of the Advocates website.

Belle Katubig campaign website launched, January 14 kickoff fundraiser planned

Supporters of Belle Katubig's 20th Subcircuit judicial bid have launched a campaign website in support of that effort. That's a link to the site in the preceding sentence; a link has been added to the Sidebar on this site as well.

Licensed in Illinois since 1997, according to ARDC, Katubig's campaign bio notes that her service as an Assistant Cook County State's Attorney currently involves representation of John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital and its doctors and nurses. The campaign bio also notes that Katubig has worked in the private sector as a "trial partner in a mid-size firm."

Katubig's campaign bio describes her as a first generation Filipino American, and the first lawyer in her family. She has been appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to the Committee on Professional Responsibility. Katubig is the mother of two sons who attend CPS schools, according to her campaign bio.

Katubig's supporters are also planning a fundraiser for Wednesday, January 14, from 5:00 to 7:30 at the Italian Village, 71 W. Monroe Street. Tickets are $100 each, but sponsorships are available as shown in the flyer above.

CWB reports on controversy involving recalled judge

I'd seen the Facebook post from the Cook County Bar Association protesting the recall of Judge James R. Brown. Most of you probably saw it, too, and read the letter linked from that post. There's an updated post on the CCBA's Facebook page this week.

The Chicago Council of Lawyers has also sent a letter to the Supreme Court asking it to terminate Judge Brown's recall appointment.

I'd meant to report on all this but, as we all know, the Road to Hell is paved with good intentions. It may be the only road hereabouts without any potholes at all.

Meanwhile, CWB Chicago actually did do a story about the bar groups' objections. That's a link to Tim Hecke's story in the preceding sentence. In the paragraphs above, you can find links to the letters from the CCBA and CCL.

The CWB Chicago story contains links to a September 5, 2025 guest column written by then-retired Judge Brown on johnkassnews.com, the Internet home of former Tribune columnist John Kass, and to a September 29, 2025 Chicago Way podcast in which Judge Brown (Ret.) was the one and only guest.

It is certainly true that judges surrender some of their First Amendment rights when they attain the bench. This is as it should be.

However, judges' First Amendment rights are restored when they hang up their robes.

What makes Judge Brown's situation unusual is that -- for the first time in a long time -- we have a former judge being returned to the bench -- and only temporarily, mind you -- and while said former judge was a former judge he exercised those First Amendment rights he'd reacquired. And, in the exercise of those restored rights, the former judge espoused at least some opinions that are clearly at odds with the prevailing political orthodoxy in this county.

One assumes that, if, while a private citizen, Judge Brown had written an essay expressing opinions more in keeping with the prevailing political orthodoxy in this county, the CCBA and CCL would not be demanding that he be removed from the bench. Of course, his essay would not then have appeared on the John Kass website.

I do not propose to dissect Judge Brown's opinions, or agree or disagree with any of them. If he were running for a spot on the bench, however, some (OK, nearly all) of these opinions would make it impossible for him to be slated by the Cook County Democratic Party as currently constituted. And that's fine. Because political parties can and should stake out political positions on political issues. That's what political parties are supposed to do.

But since when are the bar associations also committed to policing political orthodoxy? And isn't that what the bar groups are doing here?

Maybe, based on his essay, Anthony Fauci or George Soros should consider a change of venue motion should either of them find themselves in Traffic Court before recalled Judge Brown... but, in the very unlikely event that one of them were, neither would need any help from the CCBA or the CCL in making that determination. Meanwhile, why are bar associations merely mirroring the political views of the faction now controlling the local Democratic party?

For bar groups to have credibility in assessing the bona fides of judicial wannabees, they need to have different priorities than the Cook County Democratic Party. Their concern must be whether a litigant or attorney would get a fair hearing from the judge or judicial candidate. They do this, in the ordinary case, by interviewing the candidate's colleagues, or other attorneys who have appeared before the judge. They talk to people who the candidate has opposed in court, not just the references he or she provides. In evaluating sitting judges, the bar groups talk to lawyers who won before that judge and to lawyers that lost.

The case of Judge Brown is not ordinary, since recall appointments haven't happened here recently. But the current members of the bar groups have access to what their predecessors on their respective judicial evaluation committees thought of Judge Brown, and apparently they thought he was fair and impartial... even though he probably held some or all of the views he subsequently expressed, after returning to private life. If Judge Brown earned a reputation for fairness and impartiaility in nearly 20 years on the bench, that is what should be important to the bar groups. Even if -- gasp -- he is also friendly to John Kass.