These favorable recommendations are documented on the Vote Smart: CBA Judicial Voter's Guide page of the CBA website.
In a press release accompanying today's release of its ratings, the CBA explained that its "non-partisan evaluations are a comprehensive, peer-to-peer review process conducted as a long-standing public service by the CBA's Judicial Evaluation Committee. Candidates who submit a questionnaire and participate in the screening process are evaluated on their integrity, legal knowledge, legal ability, professional experience, judicial temperament, diligence, and punctuality."
"Judges have the power to profoundly impact people's lives, which is why we strongly encourage Cook County voters to review the CBA's Judicial Evaluation findings to make informed decisions about judicial candidates on November 3," said JEC Chair, Michael Shapiro. "Our nonpartisan judicial evaluation process provides voters with objective, independent assessments of candidates, free from political influence. An independent judiciary is a cornerstone of our democracy and plays a vital role in protecting the rights and liberties of all citizens."
Both the CBA and the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screening have also issued their ratings of candidates seeking election to the bench on the November ballot. Regular FWIW readers will be aware, even though the general public may not be aware, that there are no contested Cook County judicial election contests, either countywide or in any subcircuit. FWIW will have more on that, later.
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2 comments:
Remind me again, who just stepped down as the CBA's President?
Oh, very droll, Anon 9/24 @4:51 p.m. Yes, Judge Nicole Patton just completed her term as CBA President. However, the CBA JEC operates independently of the CBA Board of Managers. And, if the numbers of persons serving on the CBA JEC are smaller than they once were, they are still quite numerous, so that the independence of the group is actual, and not just on paper.
Every Alliance group, with the possible exception of the ISBA, is much smaller than the CBA (and the ISBA is statewide, of course, so that its entire resources are not, and can not be, solely devoted to Cook County). One reason why the Alliance was formed was so that the resources of these smaller bar groups could be pooled together for the investigation of judicial candidates -- but, since each Alliance member maintains the right to issue its own ratings, the influence of an individual officer on a particular rating, or ratings generally, might be greater in some of those smaller groups.
But, in terms of the CBA, I'd respectfully submit, Anon, that you're snarking... er, barking up the wrong tree....
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