Just like aldermen or state representatives or Congressmen, candidates running for judge must live in their geographic district. In Cook County some judges are elected countywide. But in 1991, to increase the diversity of a bench that had been too heavily white, male and Democratic, the state enacted a law creating 15 subcircuits in Cook County and dictating that the judges elected from those subcircuits would have to live there.
An investigation by Medill Watchdog and WGN Investigates found that the issue of where subcircuit judges live is one more curious aspect of how the law has played out. Many legal experts object that the law has opened the door to too many inexperienced or poorly qualified judges, even as the quality of the bench overall has gone up. On top of that, it turns out, several subcircuit judges, once elected, moved from houses in the subcircuit to posh condos or comfortable homes in suburban neighborhoods far from the subcircuit from which they were elected.
“The idea of the subcircuit was if you ran you were going to live in that subcircuit,” said Larry Suffredin, who as lobbyist for the Chicago Bar Association has played an active role in legislative battles over judicial selection.
“I do think judges help stabilize neighborhoods. They are significant public officials. They are people that kids can look up to, that neighbors can feel comfortable having in their community.”
Leida Gonzalez Santiago became one of the youngest members of the bench when she was elected in 1992, one of the first subcircuit judges to take office even despite a negative evaluation from the Chicago Council of Lawyers. Gonzalez Santiago is married to Miguel Santiago, the former alderman and state representative, who reportedly helped her onto the bench. In 1999 the couple bought a house farther north, out of the subcircuit, that would become her registered voter address.
Gonzalez Santiago failed to respond to several requests for an interview. So did Vanessa Hopkins, who won election from a far south side Chicago subcircuit in 1996, just two years after she was admitted to practice law in Illinois. But within three years, records show, she bought a condominium in a nicer neighborhood outside the subcircuit, and signed a mortgage which included a clause stating that without a written agreement to the contrary, the condo would be her primary address.
Not everyone thought the law calling for judges to stay put in subcircuits made sense. Robert Cummins, who once sat on the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board, has long opposed the creation of judicial subcircuits.
“Does it make any difference whether the judge grew up and lived in Hyde Park when he was elected,” Cummins asked. “Is he going to be a different person when he moves to Rogers Park?
“Frankly,” Cummins added, “we shouldn’t be looking for judges who are going to call the balls and strikes based on something other than the evidence and the merits and the integrity of the case before them.”
In 2006, state attorney general Lisa Madigan issued an opinion casting doubt on the law altogether. The legislature could not dictate, she wrote, where judges lived after their first six-year terms, once voters countywide had voted to retain them on the bench.
The ruling opened the door. “So many of these judicial deserts ended up losing the judges they had,” said Suffredin.
Judge Peter Flynn, for example, had won election from a south side subcircuit in 2000. In 2009, he and his wife jumped ship, buying a North Shore home. Flynn, who has been favorably reviewed by the bar association groups, failed to respond to requests for an interview about this investigation.
(Part 3) - Continue Reading
Full Article and Source:
Moving out: Subcircuit judges relocate, foiling geographic diversity
See Also:
Judging the Judges: Cook County’s Troubled Judiciary Elections System (Part 1)
Issues of qualifications: Subcircuit judges often less touted (Part 2)
This is a great series.
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