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Friday, Apr 7, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

The Tribune has a good backgrounder today about the politics of the Illinois Supreme Court.

The selection this week of Anne Burke, wife of powerful Chicago Ald. Ed Burke (14th), to the state’s highest court has drawn new public attention to the long-standing role of politics in the state’s judicial system.

Many of the justices who have served on the state Supreme Court once stood, hat in hand, before political party leaders as they sought selection for a county judgeship that became a steppingstone. Freeman and Bilandic, Appellate Court judges in 1990, sought the backing of Cook County Democratic Party leaders when they successfully ran for the Supreme Court.

Freeman defeated Mary Ann McMorrow in the Democratic primary in 1990. Two years later, McMorrow got the backing of the Democratic Party organization and won a seat on the high court. McMorrow, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, announced Wednesday that she was stepping down and had recommended Burke as her replacement.

“The idea that we get our judges from Mt. Sinai is just not the case,” said Abner Mikva, a former federal judge and congressman who acknowledges politics and knowing then-President Jimmy Carter played a role in his selection to the federal bench. “They’ve all come through some political process at some point. But what matters most is what you do once you get there.”

The Sun-Times editorial board has some reservations about the way Anne Burke was appointed to the Supreme Court this week.

But while we have no problem with the passing of the torch between the two accomplished jurists, we have some reservations about how the torch was passed. McMorrow announced her retirement Wednesday and presented the appointment of Burke by Supreme Court members as a fait accompli. We have no idea who else, if anyone, was considered. That’s emblematic of a judicial selection process in Illinois dominated by insiders. Burke has proved herself to Illinoisans. We suspect she will be overwhelmingly elected if she runs to win a full 10-year term in 2008. But that doesn’t change the fact that the process should have been more open.

The Tribune edit board also weighed in on a separate issue.

But Burke also has raised questions that stem from her behind-the-scenes influence on decisions affecting the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services in recent years. She used a local gossip columnist to steer policy debates and made concerted efforts to discredit former DCFS Director Jess McDonald, who did more to bring stability and professionalism to the department than any director in decades. McDonald had not reacted as Burke and her husband, Ald. Edward Burke (14th), had wanted during their disputed quest to adopt a foster child.

4 Comments

- Nick - Friday, Apr 7, 06 @ 8:12 am:
I would love to hear what former 1st ward lawyer/fixer Bob Cooley thinks about this, In his book “When Corruption Was King” He states some things about the Burkes, and in perticular some issues dealing with the Burkes getting off a abusive priest in the 80’s, perhaps Ann Burkes role with the group investigating the sex abuse charges in the church is her way of doing the right thing. The Burkes are a Clout power couple but they are both smart classy people.

- Johnson - Friday, Apr 7, 06 @ 8:20 am:
What is so special about the supreme court that it should be exempt from machine politics?

- Randall Sherman - Friday, Apr 7, 06 @ 9:11 am:
Sometimes it is best to be both lucky and talented. In the case of Anne Burke, her good fortune extends to fact that she was born in early 1944. Had she been born a few months earlier, in say November 1943, the most she could have hoped for in terms of tenure on the Illinois Supreme Court would be her appointed term (to December 2008) and one elected 10-year term. But because Justice Burke would be a couple of months short of her 75th birthday when that 10-year Supreme Court term expired in December 2018, she would be eligible to seek retention for a second 10-year term in 2018, and could serve (health permitting) until December 2028, when she would be just short of her 85th birthday.

As for the Chicago Tribune editorial, I have to point out that once again that ex-college radio station jazz show producer who runs the editorial page (Bruce Dold) seems unable to get his facts straight when it comes to writing about government. The editorial talked about Justice McMorrow appointing Anne Burke to “the remaining 2 1/2 years of her term.”

Hey Bruce… Justice McMorrow was serving a term that would not have expired until December 2012 had she remained on the Supreme Court. The length of Burke’s appointment to the High Court was determined by the date of the next available election cycle for the seat to be contested, not when the outgoing Justice’s term would have concluded. In this case, since we are now nearly four months after the December 19 regular filing deadline for the 2006 elections, any appointment would have to be until judges elected in the 2008 General Election could be sworn in, which is December 2008.

RANDALL SHERMAN
Secretary/Treasurer, Illinois Committee for Honest Government

- Cassandra - Friday, Apr 7, 06 @ 9:47 am:
What was puzzling about Sneed and Anne Burke’s
tacky attempts to discredit McDonald was that they were completely unnecessary. McDonald presumably had to hand in his resignation when
the new governor came on board…he was a cabinet head. And no matter how good you are,
the public understands that new party and gov equals new cabinet heads. Their insistence on
making his departure unpleasant reflects the same unclassy approach to politics frequently observed in Blagojevich and his aides. They are never, ever gracious, even when it doesn’t cost them anything.

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