Spomer to retire at end of term in November; Has served 36 years on the bench

After having served more than three decades on the bench, Fifth District Appellate Court Justice Stephen L. Spomer of Cairo will retire Nov. 30, at the conclusion of his sixth six-year term.

He is an elected circuit judge from the First Judicial Circuit who was assigned to the Fifth District by special appointment by the Illinois Supreme Court in 2005.

He was first elected in 1978 and has been retained in the First Circuit every six years since then. Most recently in 2008, voters in Alexander, Jackson, Johnson, Massac, Pope, Pulaski, Saline, Union and Williamson counties retained him by a margin of 74 to 26 percent. He served as chief judge in the First Circuit from 1992-1998.

Spomer is a 1967 graduate of Cairo High School.

He received his undergraduate degree from Tulane University in New Orleans in 1971 and went on to receive his juris doctorate from Tulane Law School in 1974.

From 1974-1978 he was in private practice at his parents' law firm of Spomer and Spomer. He also served as a public defender for both Johnson and Massac Counties from 1974-1976.

Spomer is married to Debra Cerny Spomer and they have one daughter, Amy.
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