Much is at stake in the November elections that includes some of the off the radar positions such as judge races. Legislators in Springfield redrew judicial maps after the 2020 census. It was the first time they’ve been redrawn since 1964. The second and fourth district saw some of the biggest changes to their maps.
The Illinois second judicial district now includes DeKalb, Kane, Kendall, Lake and McHenry counties.
Mark C. Curran, Jr., a Republican and former Lake County sheriff, is running against Elizabeth “Lizz” Rochford, a Democrat and Lake County Associate Judge.
The seat became vacant when Justice Robert R. Thomas retired in 2020. Justice Michael Burke was appointed to fill his seat in the interim.
The Illinois State Bar Association didn’t recommend Curran for the position. It highly recommends Rochford.
Curran declined to be interviewed for this story after multiple attempts.
The race has garnered some attention as Democrats seek to maintain a majority in the Supreme Court. That’s because issues such as a woman’s ability to gain access to an abortion may face the court.
Rochford has been an associate judge since 2012. Her prior roles include serving as a Cook County assistant state attorney, and a Commissioner of the Illinois Court of Claims.
The Illinois Supreme Court hears few cases. These mostly entail constitutional questions or when there is a dispute in the lower courts. But they also administer the court system, setting rules and policies.
Rochford says improving access to justice is a major focus for her. She said as a Lake County judge, she’s given close attention to people who are navigating guardianship of a child, due to families in crisis.
“Someone steps in to be a guardian, and they need to enroll the child in school, get the child medical care, and they have to establish legal authority over the child,” she said. “And the process can be complicated. And if you don't have the benefit of resources to have an attorney, it can be overwhelming. So, we started a help desk to help people.”
The new map created a new seat in the appellate court of the second judicial district. Kane County Court Judge Susan Clancy Boles, a Republican, is running against Lake County Court Judge Chris Kennedy, a Democrat, to fill the spot.
The Illinois State Bar Association highly recommends both candidates for the position. Everyone has a right to appeal their case to the Appellate Court and so judges hear cases of all kinds.
Clancy Boles has served on the circuit court bench for 16 years. She has presided over cases ranging from adoptions to child delinquency cases to sentencing for violent crimes, and now oversees a civil case courtroom.
During the COVID pandemic, the courts made decisions on vaccine and mask mandates, as nationwide politics became more polarized. But the Kane County Judge says the judiciary should not get into the political mix.
“The courts have been quiet, people haven't needed them on such an emergent basis as they've had in these last couple years,” she said. “So with that being said it, you know, you can see the anger, the differences on both sides. And hopefully the court is the middle of the road that says all right, here is the law that is stated black and white.”
In Kane County where Clancy Boles presides, over 30 percent of the population speaks another language besides English at home. She says, as judge, it’s worth paying attention to the diversity of the court and ensuring language barriers do not exist to access justice.
“So, it's important not just to try and have signs up in multiple languages, it's to have when people walk into a courthouse that people look like them, people can speak with them,” she said. “So that's important and diversification on both sides is really important - I think, both in hiring and also placing people on the bench.”
Lake County Associate Judge Chris Kennedy was appointed to the criminal division in 2020. Kennedy says his working-class background and experience advocating laws to support people with disabilities, like his daughter, is valuable and helps him make good decisions as a judge.
“The job of a judge is not to represent a constituency, it's to be able to make decisions based on their experience and perspective, that is fair and that is according to the law,” Kennedy said. “And that law comes from various places the US Constitution, state constitution, State Supreme Court, the legislature, we have to get it right. And by the same token, we have to make sure that it's right in the context of ordinary people's lives as well.”
Over the years attention has been drawn to racial bias in the criminal justice system. All candidates WNIJ interviewed recognized that racial bias exists in the courts and the ongoing task to challenge it. The Safe –T Act passed by the state Legislature in 2021 is intended to address practices in the criminal justice system that unfairly burden Black people, but also the poor.
“I'm well aware of the historical context of what happens in our society today,” Kennedy said. “And we as judges especially have a duty to make sure that there is no bias or prejudice that creeps in. And if we're not courageous enough to stand up and then say something to look for possible bias, then we're not doing our job, right. And that's something I'm very cognizant of the justice system has had its flaws.”
Illinois Supreme Court and appellate judges serve for 10 years, then go up for a retention vote in a nonpartisan race thereafter.
The fourth judicial district was also redrawn and now covers as far northeast as Boone County to Calhoun County, which is about an hour-and-a-half drive from St. Louis.
