President Thies responds to Chicago Sun-Times editorial on judicial reform

ISBA President John E. Thies wrote a letter to the editor in response to the recent Chicago Sun-Times editorial on judicial reform. President Thies' letter is below.

Editorial Page
Chicago Sun-Times

To the Editor:

The Sun-Times editorial "Time to give the boot to bad judges" is right on the mark. On November 6th, Cook County voters made no distinction between the vast majority of judges who deserved to be retained and the few who should not be entrusted with deciding issues of life, liberty, and the rights of their fellow citizens.

Illinois has 40-plus years of experience with the current system of selecting judges - partisan elections and non-partisan retentions - and the flaws of this system are more apparent with each passing election.

The Illinois State Bar Association favors an appointment system in which judges would be selected with the benefit of nonpartisan commissions composed of lawyers and nonlawyers. We believe such a system would bolster an independent, qualified judiciary. But changing the selection process requires an amendment to the Illinois Constitution. We know how difficult this is, after many years of trying.

This leaves us to pursue other measures that can improve the system we have. One of these is tighter rules outlining when a judge should disqualify him or herself due to campaign support that creates a probability of bias. Public confidence in the justice system demands this kind of common sense rule, and the Illinois State Bar Association will be voting next month to approve such a proposal.

Illinois is fortunate to have an excellent judiciary. We arrived at that result in spite of, not because of, the method of selection.

Sincerely,

John E. Thies, President
Illinois State Bar Association
Urbana