Category Archives: Policy Statements

Posted by Elizabeth Monkus on June 12, 2018 Improving diversity on the bench requires critical assessment of how judges are elected and selected; citizen oversight and participation is necessary. We believe the associate judge process this year is a reminder toward vigilance in improving represen...

Following the advancement of House Floor Amendment 1 to SB 2580, a wrong-headed measure to reinstate the death penalty in Illinois, Chicago Council of Lawyers and Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice release the following statement in opposition: Joint Statement Against Reinstating the Death Penalty i...

Thank you to each of you who used the judicial evaluations of the Chicago Council of Lawyers to make informed decisions about judicial elections.  The Council's evaluations were utilized by VoteforJudges.org, Chicago Votes, Ballot Ready, and Injustice Watch.  More than 100,000 persons saw the Counci...

Judges make all kinds of decisions, from the very personal, such as child custody decisions, to those with much broader impact. The decisions that judges make affect our lives, both directly and indirectly, often for many years to come. We never know when a judge we vote for today will make a decisi...

The Chicago Council of Lawyers and Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice have released a statement on HB 4113....

  Michael Brennan, nominee for a lifetime judicial appointment on the Seventh Circuit, is not a qualified candidate and is far outside the mainstream of judicial thought. Brennan has been unable to earn his way through a decades-long bipartisan process for judicial nominations in this Circuit; rath...

On behalf of the Chicago Council of Lawyers, the public interest bar association that has been working for the fair and effective administration of justice for nearly 50 years, I am writing to strongly urge the reappointment of Lori Lightfoot as the President of the Chicago Police Board. Ms. Lightfo...

The Chicago Council of Lawyers has released its judicial evaluations for the November 2016 election.  The Council provides a written report providing short biographies and the reasons for its findings, both for judges seeking retention and for candidates who won their March 2016 primary and are seek...

On August 30, Mayor Rahm Emanuel released a statement on police accountability and a draft ordinance to replace the Independent Police Review Authority with a new agency. The Chicago Council of Lawyers offers its thoughts below. Chicago Council of Lawyers Communication about Mayor’s Proposed Police...