Judicial Evaluation Results for November 2020

Today, the Chicago Council of Lawyers releases our Judicial Evaluation Report of candidates seeking retention in the November 3, 2020 election. A ballot summary of our findings can be found here.

Voting for judges is a key part of our democracy. Some Cook County judges are elected by the public on a countywide or on a “subcircuit” basis; others – Associate Judges – are peer-elected by a majority of sitting judges after an application process. Associate Judges must be retained by their peers at the end of a four-year term, whereas Circuit Judges must be elected for retention by the public every six years (Appellate and Supreme Court Justices face retention every ten years).

Almost 60 judges are running for retention in November 2020 and four people are running in contested elections to fill judicial vacancies. The 2018 election marked the first time in almost thirty-years that a sitting Cook County Judge lost a retention election.

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 decision that will affect your life and the lives of your family and friends. It is our responsibility to vote for judges we can trust to make impartial decisions based on fair consideration of the facts and law. In some cases, this means that judges may make unpopular or controversial decisions, we need to be able trust that our judges can make those decisions correctly without regard to personal bias, political or economic pressures, or other outside influences.

Among the Council’s most vital projects are our annual state judicial evaluations for Circuit and Associate Judges. A high-quality judiciary – the foundation of equitable and effective courts – relies on public’s informed oversight of the judiciary, but how can we ensure public access to transparent and objective reports of individual judges’ histories, behaviors, and practices? This crucial public service helps Illinois voters elect qualified judges.

For more information about our judicial evaluations, please visit VoteForJudges.org. You may also contact our Executive Director Malcolm Rich, at malcolmrich@chicagoappleseed.org.