By Hannah Meisel

* Illinois Supreme Court Justice Charles Freeman announced last month he was stepping down after 27 years on the court, making him the fifth-longest serving Supreme Court justice in Illinois.

Replacing him is First District Appellate Justice P. Scott Neville, who will be sworn in at 2 p.m. in a ceremony in the Thompson Center. BlueRoomStream has live coverage here. I’m listening as I write and there’s some lively live strings music.

Neville’s appointed term will last until Dec. 7, 2020.

* Press release…

The Honorable P. Scott Neville, Jr. will take the oath on Friday as the newest member of the Illinois Supreme Court, the second African American to sit on the state’s highest tribunal.

Justice Neville, an Appellate Court Justice in Illinois for the past 14 years, will be sworn in by Justice Anne M. Burke. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Charles E. Freeman, the fifth-longest serving justice in Illinois Supreme Court history at 27 years, six months.

“Justice Neville is an experienced and highly respected member of the bench and was a unanimous choice to succeed Justice Freeman. Through his service on both the circuit and appellate courts, Justice Neville has demonstrated his deep commitment to the principles of fairness, justice and the rule of law,” Chief Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier said. “While we shall deeply miss Justice Freeman, Justice Neville will be an outstanding addition to the Supreme Court. My colleagues and I are all looking forward to working with him.”
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Justice Neville believes, like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., that the moral arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice. Therefore, he will continue to serve the citizens of this state by ensuring that Illinois’ courts provide “equal justice for all.”

Justice Neville received his Bachelor of Arts at Culver Stockton College and his juris doctorate at the Washington University School of Law.

Following graduation from law school, Neville served as a law clerk for Appellate Court Justice Glenn T. Johnson, becoming the first African-American man to clerk for a Cook County Appellate Justice. Neville would go on to work as counsel for Howard, Mann & Slaughter and would establish P. Scott Neville, Jr. & Associates in 1981. For nearly 25 years Neville specialized in appellate, employment, civil rights and complex civil litigation. He was one of several attorneys who successfully prosecuted the 1992 Chicago Ward “ReMap” case, a case on which President Barack Obama also worked.

Neville was appointed to the bench in 1999 and elected in 2000 as a judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County. He served in that capacity until he was appointed to the First District Appellate Court in 2004. He successfully ran for election to the Appellate Court in 2012.

Justice Neville previously served as Chairman of the Executive Committee for the Illinois Appellate Court, First District and is a former member of the Appellate Court’s Executive Committee. He is currently the Presiding Justice of the Second Division.