“A Thousand Small Sanities” and Why Judges Matter

"A Thousand Small Sanities" is worth a look for anyone interested in learning about rational, incremental criminal justice system reform. It's a succinct, straightforward history of criminal justice reform in New York City. In Small Sanities, the Center for Court Innovation Director Greg Berman writ...
August 29, 2012

Protecting Fair Courts in a Citizens United World — Blog

Today at 3 pm, we will begin blogging the Protecting Fair Courts forum on judicial recusal and campaign contributions disclosure. We are co-sponsoring the forum with Justice at Stake, American Bar Association Standing Committee on Judicial Independence, American Constitution Society, Illinois Campa...
May 23, 2012

Save the Date: 5/23/12 “Judicial Independence in a Citizens United World”

Please join us... Protecting Judicial Independence in a Citizens United World - New Ways of Looking at Judicial Recusal and Campaign Contribution Disclosure Sponsored by Justice at Stake Campaign and Co-Sponsored by Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice Chicago Council of Lawyers Illinois Campaign...
April 25, 2012

Judicial Campaign Contributions Revive Need for Recusal Standards

The sole asbestos judge in Madison County, IL was dropped from several asbestos cases after receiving over $30,000 in campaign contributions from asbestos plaintiffs' law firms, reports the Belleville News Democrat. Just days before contributing to Judge Crowder's campaign for re-election, the three...
December 19, 2011

Anonymity and Integrity in Researching Judicial Performance

Recently, Chicago Appleseed was asked about unsolicited anonymous comments about judicial retention candidates and whether they play a role in the data collection for the Judicial Performance Commission of Cook County’s (the JPC) evaluations. The integrity of our data is paramount and we strive to u...
October 31, 2011