Voters Do Not Retain Cook County Judge
For the first time in nearly 30 years, Cook County voters have voted against the retention of a sitting Circuit Court judge. Judge Matthew Coghlan, who sat in the Criminal Courts, received less than the 60% “yes” vote necessary to retain his seat. The Illinois Supreme Court will appoint a replacement to fill the vacancy at the end of his term in December.
Seven members of the Alliance of Bar Associations, whose evaluations are distributed for voter education purposes through VoteForJudges.org, did not recommend Judge Coghlan for retention—the highest percentage of bar associations not recommending a single judge in the 14-year history of VoteForJudges.org. The Cook County Democratic Party, as well, took the unusual step of withdrawing their endorsement for the judge’s retentions, and several activist groups urged their constituencies to reject the judge for retention.
The voters of Cook County paid attention. The courts serve the public and without the trust of the public, the courts will not function at their best.
Chicago Appleseed has long been involved in assessing the process by which judges are selected, elected and retained. Not only did we found VoteForJudges.org in 2004, but we piloted a public, formal evaluation process for sitting judges that focused not simply on whether a judge should be retained, but also on where they needed mentoring or additional training. We focused as well on praising those judges, whenever appropriate. In the past. Chicago Appleseed has worked with state legislators attempting to improve the judicial selection and retention process—we hope to have the opportunity to do so again.
A high-quality judiciary is the foundation of fair and effective courts. It can be achieved through non-partisan selection, rigorous training of new judges, and public oversight of the performance of sitting judges based upon best practices. Above all, the public needs reliable reports of each judge’s strength and weaknesses, as measured by objective, non-case-outcome-determined metrics in order to make ballot decisions.
At Chicago Appleseed, we are thrilled that so many voters took the time to educate themselves on the judicial ballot. We hope to see momentum in improving the process of selecting, electing and retaining judges for many years to come.