Geography no worry when Supreme Court appoints judges
By Medill Watchdog and WGN Investigates
Early in November, Allan W. Masters filed papers declaring his candidacy for a vacancy in the 12th judicial subcircuit on Chicago’s North Shore, where his home is located.The odd part: Masters is currently sitting as a judge in the 9th subcircuit, an area farther south.
He has been filling that 9th subcircuit seat since June, when the state Supreme Court appointed Masters to fill a vacancy created when Judge Lee Preston retired.
The court made that appointment despite the Illinois Judicial Vacancies Act, a law that states the Supreme Court should fill vacancies with residents of the subcircuit where the vacancy occurs. The act states: “A person appointed to fill a vacancy in the office of circuit judge shall be, at the time of appointment, a resident of the subcircuit from which the person whose vacancy is being filled was elected if the vacancy occurred in a circuit divided into subcircuits.”
It’s one more way in which the system of subcircuit judicial posts in Cook County seems to be amiss. A joint investigation by Medill Watchdog and WGN Investigates found a series of problems that plague the subcircuit system, enacted in 1991 by legislators who hoped to create a diverse corps of judges from neighborhoods throughout the county. The system has led to a higher number of judges who do not pass muster in the evaluation process of a variety of bar associations; and several judges have houses outside the subcircuits from which they were elected.
The investigation also identified a series of instances in which the Illinois Supreme Court has appointed judges who do not live in the subcircuit in which the vacancy occurs.
In 2003 the state enacted the provision of the Judicial Vacancies Act, just to be clear about its expectations when the Supreme Court goes to fill vacancies on the court.
The court has never ruled on whether it considers that 2003 provision constitutional or not. It just seems, at times, to make its appointments without worrying about the niceties of geography.
Explained Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, who represents the Chicago Bar Association: “The only person who can tell us what the law is and if it’s constitutional is the Illinois Supreme Court. And nobody has brought a case so it’s a little bit like not challenging people’s addresses. If nobody challenges them then the law just kind of evolves on its own.”
So when Anthony Iosco retired from the Cook County Circuit Court last year from the 13th subcircuit in the northwest suburbs,, the court chose to replace him with Lauretta Higgins Wolfson, who lives in a downtown high rise with her husband, a well-known retired judge and DePaul University School of Law visiting professor.
Wolfson, like Masters, failed to respond to repeated requests for comment.
The appointments do more than help fill temporary holes on the bench. In an elective system that many legal experts worry opens the door to uninformed voters making bad choices, the appointments give a boost to those appointed when they compete in elections to fill the seats more permanently.
In recent years, the court has on several occasions filled vacancies by appointing highly rated judges after they lose elective races. “They are supposed to be trying to find the best qualified people,” explained Suffredin.
Since losing a 2011 reelection runoff, former Chicago alderman Freddrenna Lyle has twice been appointed to vacancies – neither of which was in her subcircuit. Lyle first was appointed to fill a vacancy in the 2nd subcircuit in 2011, an appointment that was to last until late 2012.
Weeks before the appointment was to end, the court terminated her position from the 2nd subcircuit, and the same day gave her a new appointment – to the 7th subcircuit, where she serves today.
Neither subcircuit is where Lyle lives; she has long been a south side resident in the 5th subcircuit.
Asked about the appointment of candidates from outside the subcircuit, Lyle said last week, “I’m not privy to the thought processes of the Supreme Court. But these are temporary appointments for vacancies until the next election.”
Lyle said because she would have to establish residency in the north side 7th subcircuit to run for the seat she holds, she decided not to run for the seat next year. Instead, she has declared as a candidate for an appellate court vacancy — a countywide position that permits her to stay in her house.
Asked about how these appointments square with the residency laws, a state Supreme Court spokesman issued this statement:
“On matters of law, the Illinois Supreme Court speaks through its opinions. The eligibility and qualifications for election to judicial office are contained in the Illinois Constitution.”
The Constitution says that judges must be U.S. citizens, licensed attorneys and residents of the “unit” from which he or she is selected.
And what does “unit” mean?
The legislature has created two different definitions of “units” for Cook County judges – some judges come from the countywide unit, but since 1991 some judges come from the subcircuits.
But the Supreme Court has never been asked to rule on whether the state judicial vacancies law is valid, or whether the law improperly intrudes on the court’s appointment power.
In the meantime, the court has shown it is willing to broadly interpret its power to appoint without worrying about geographic boundaries, and not just when it comes to subcircuits.
In 2011 the court was criticized for appointing Cynthia Cobbs, a former law clerk to Justice Charles Freeman, to a vacancy in one of the Cook County Circuit Court countywide seats. The only problem: Cobbs was a Will County resident at the time.
She and her husband then bought a house in Cook County. And this June, the Cobbs sold their house in Will County; that same month, a campaign committee was formed for Cobbs’ election next year to a full term on the Cook County Circuit Court.
Left unresolved is the question of how the court’s 2011 appointment squares with another provision of the Judicial Vacancies Act, stating vacant judicial positions shall be filled by people who are residents of the circuit “at the time of appointment.”
For the broadcast version of this segment, please turn to our partner WGN-TV: http://wgntv.com/2013/12/05/judging-the-judges-how-could-it-be-even-thesupremes-dont-follow-the-law/
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