170 CANDIDATES will be seeking 100 statewide judgeships when voters go to the polls in November. The 100 positions, which include three Supreme, eight Appellate and 89 circuit court seats, are vacancies opened by either the resignation, retirement or conclusion of a term of the presiding judge of that office.
Judges in Illinois are elected, with the exception of associate circuit judges who are appointed to four-year terms by the circuit court. An elected judge who wishes to remain in office at the expiration of his term runs for retention with no opposition. Supreme and Appellate Court judges serve 10-year terms, while circuit court judges are elected for six years. Judicial elections are not all held in the same year; they are split up similarly to the state Senate elections.
In the judicial article of 1964, a unified court system for Illinois was established in trying to simplify a previously confusing, and sometimes overlapping judiciary. In this revision, which is now contained in Article VI of the 1970 Illinois Constitution, the state is divided into five judicial districts for election of Supreme and Appellate court judges. The first district is comprised solely of Cook County. There are seven Supreme Court judges — three from the first district and one from each of the four downstate districts. Appellate Court judges in the state total 36, but the number of judges elected from each district is prescribed by law.
Circuit court judges, on the other hand, are elected in 21 judicial circuits consisting of one or more counties. Cook and DuPage are the only single-county circuits in the state. In the other circuits, resident judges are elected from each single county in addition to judges elected at-large from throughout the entire circuit. The number of judges elected at-large from each circuit is provided by law by the General Assembly and subject to revision.
The Cook County Judicial Circuit, the largest court system in the world, is made up of three units. According to the state Constitution (Art. VI, sec. 7(b)), circuit judges are elected at-large from Cook County, as well as from the area inside the city of Chicago and from the area lying outside the city of Chicago, but within Cook County. This process is similar to the election of resident circuit judges in multi-county circuits.
Politics do not play as active a role in judicial elections as they do in other statewide races. However, they do sometimes enter into play, especially when an important seat is being closely contested.
Only three seats are to be filled on the Supreme Court in November, two of which are from Cook County. Former Illinois Atty. Gen. William G. Clark and Chicago attorney James A. Dooley captured primary victories in their bids for Democratic nominations from the first judicial district against candidates backed by Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley.
Clark captured 57.1 per cent of the vote over his opponent, Appellate Court Judge Henry W. Dieringer. Dooley edged Joseph A. Power, former chief judge of the Cook County Criminal Court and former law partner of Daley, with 52.1 per cent of the vote. Republican nominees Lawrence X. Pusateri, who will face dark in the November election, and Reginald J. Holzer, who will face Dooley, were both unopposed in the primary.
The only other Supreme Court race involves a vacancy in the second judicial district, where Stanley J. Rozkowski of Rockford gained the Democratic nomination with 34.8 per cent of the vote, defeating three challengers. Appellate Court Judge Thomas J. Moran collected 52 per cent of the vote in defeating state Sen. Harris W. Fawell (R., Naperville) for the Republican nomination.
For Appellate Court judge. Republican Richard Mills and Democrat Paul M. Wright were unopposed in the fourth judicial district and will face each other in November. The other seven vacancies among Appellate Court seats are all from the first district (Cook County).
The circuit court elections will dominate most of the judicial balloting this fall with 89 openings. The majority of races are contested, except for seats in the Cook County judicial circuit from inside the city of Chicago. Six Democrats seeking those vacancies were unopposed in the primary and will face no opponents in November, as are the 10 Democratic candidates running for additional judgeships from the same unit.
In the downstate races, 26 candidates are seeking to fill 16 vacancies for circuit court judge, but only 18 are running for the 13 openings among resident court judgeships in those circuits.
The biggest battles fought in the primary involved the races for 30 additional judgeships in Cook County. These openings were created by law to provide for the growing needs of the Illinois judiciary. Seven million Democratic ballots were cast for 49 candidates in the largest judicial race of the primary — the nomination for 15 new judgeships from Cook County at-large. The 15 Democrats who won were led by Marilyn Rozmarek Komosa who gathered 3.9 per cent of the vote. On the Republican side of the same race, only 15 candidates ran for the 15 slots. In the race for five additional judgeships outside the city, 11 Republican and 6 Democrats ran in the primary. For the 10 additional judgeships inside Chicago, 16 Democrats ran, but the 10 nominated will run unopposed in November since no Republicans were on the primary ballot.
The only other additional judgeship was created in DuPage County, the 18th Judicial Circuit, where John J. Bowman slipped by four opponents to gain the Republican nomination. In November, Bowman will face Democrat Ralph L. Dichtl, who was unopposed in the primary.
Another facet of the judicial elections often misunderstood pertains to the candidacy of judges running for retention. The state Constitution (Art. VI, sec. 12) gives an advantage to judges who wish to remain in office when their term expires. Their name appears on a separate ballot without opposition and party designation. The affirmative vote of just three-fifths of those casting votes on the question elects that judge to another term. Not less than six months before the general election in November, any judge wishing to seek retention must file a declaration of candidacy to succeed his or herself with the secretary of state's office. Only one judge has not been granted retention since the Judicial Article of 1964 instituted it.
20 / September 1976 / Illinois Issues
This process also allows judges seeking retention to run for another office. Five judges from the circuit court seeking retention this fall also ran for higher judicial positions in the primary. Reginald J. Holzer and Joseph A. Power both sought nominations to the Supreme Court for a seat vacated in the 1st Judicial District, but their names will also appear on the ballot for retention in November. Holzer gained the Republican nomination and his name will appear twice on the ballot, but Power was defeated in his bid for the Democratic nomination to the high court and will only be able to seek retention. Three other circuit court judges running for retention, Kenneth E. Wilson and Nicholas J. Bua from the 1st Judicial Circuit and Richard Mills from the fourth, are all seeking Appellate Court positions on the regular ballot. If these double nominees lose their bids for the Supreme or Appellate Court seats in November, they can be retained in office as circuit court judges. If they win their bids, they can step down from their circuit court posts and assume duties at their new positions. In this case, the Supreme Court would nominate and elect successors to fill the vacancies. One Supreme Court justice and 66 circuit court judges are seeking retention in November. A list of those candidates can be found on the following pages.
Illinois Issues reported on candidates for the Illinois House and Senate in its June, July and August issues. Analyses of congressional and state executive branch candidates will be featured in upcoming issues. / T.S.B.
Additional information
The Illinois Voters Handbook, published
by the League of Women Voters of Illinois,
is a comprehensive analysis of every facet of
elections in Illinois. It describes the makeup
and functions of almost every division of
state government. Complete with a full
index, this 268-page publication is available
at $4.15 from either of the League of Women
Voters of Illinois' offices, 330 South Sixth
Street, Springfield, 62701, or 67 East
Madison Street, Chicago, 60603. The 1976 Candidate Book, published by
the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce, is a
60-page reference containing background
information on all candidates running for
statewide offices. The non-partisan guidebook contains candidates' biographical
sketches, photographs, position on key
issues, and general election information.
Copies are available at $1.50 each from the
Publications Center, Illinois State Chamber
of Commerce, 20 North Wacker Drive,
Chicago, 60606.
There are two highly informative sources
available to voters on the election process
and the candidates running in November.
September 1976 / Illinois Issues / 21