Who Sits Where: Bastille Day Edition

I am keenly aware that there are still two weeks before petitions can be circulated for the 2027 mayoral election. It is therefore far, far, far too soon to be thinking about the 2028 Cook County judicial primary. At least for normal people.

But normal people are not in charge of our political system... politicians are. (If more normal people got directly involved in our political system, maybe some of those dominating the process now could be pushed back to the fringes, where they belong. But I digress.)

Those who hope to secure Cook County judgeships, even if they are mostly normal, or at least partially normal, have little choice but to start peering into the distant future, looking past the 2027 mayoral, and considering what may be available in March 2028 (or maybe February -- there has been talk of moving the primary up to benefit Gov. Pritzker's presidential ambitions).

There will eventually be, in addition to the vacancies listed below, ten subcircuit vacancies, two each in the new subcircuits 16-20. Obviously, there will be more retirements in the coming months and new vacancies will need to be added for these.

For the present, however, the list below is as accurate as I can make it. I have gone out on a limb just a bit in assigning the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Sophia Hall to the 15th Subcircuit, and obviously I'll update if I'm wrong, but here was my thinking: Judge Hall was the last serving judge who was elected prior to the adoption of the original subcircuit system, in 1992. Before we had subcircuits, we elected judges countywide, citywide, or suburbs-only. The citywide and suburbs-only seats, when they opened up, were assigned to the original subcircuits (1-15). The order of assignment was determined by lottery, the results of which were memorialized in a Supreme Court order. The last pre-1992 judge to retire before Judge Hall was Judge Irwin J. Solganick; his vacancy was assigned to, and filled from, the 7th Subcircuit in 2024. Per that venerable Supreme Court order, I believe Judge Hall's vacancy will be assigned to the 15th Subcircuit.

All errors or omissions in the following list are mine alone. Updates to the this post will be made, or new lists put up, as events warrant. Herewith, then, the list:

Supreme Court Vacancy

Vacancy of the Hon. Mary Jane Theis - Sanjay T. Tailor

Appellate Court Vacancy

Vacancy of the Hon. Terrence J. Lavin - Unfilled

Countywide Circuit Court Vacancies

Vacancy of the Hon. Daniel J. Kubasiak - Unfilled
Vacancy of the Hon. Diana Rosario - Unfilled

Subcircuit Vacancies

12th Subcircuit
Vacancy of the Hon. Pamela E. Loza - Unfilled

15th Subcircuit
Vacancy of the Hon. Sophia Hall - Unfilled