Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Fitzgerald stepping down, names Theis as his replacement

Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Fitzgerald announced Monday that he has Parkinson's disease and will retire effective Oct. 25. “I didn’t want to do anything to hurt the Court or the people it serves,” he said. “Right now, I’m fully capable of discharging its duties. I don’t know how much longer that will be true.” Fitzgerald recommended Appellate Court Justice and ISBA Board member Mary Jane Theis as his replacement and she was appointed by the high court. Justice Theis will serve an interim term of a little more than two years and the seat will be up for election in 2012. She has been a member of the Appellate Court in Cook County since 1993, and a judge since 1983. Read the Illinois Supreme Court release on Chief Justice Fitzgerald's retirement. Read more in the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune.