Fifth District Appellate Court Justice Richard Goldenhersh will not seek another 10-year term when his current one expires at the end of next year.
A notice of vacancy for his seat was posted at the Illinois State Board of Elections site on Tuesday.
A Democrat, Goldenhersh, 73, of Belleville is the second-longest serving justice at the district which is comprised of the 37 southern-most counties in the state.
Before taking the bench at the Fifth District, Goldenhersh had served as an associate judge in St. Clair County from 1975 until 1982; he went on to become a circuit judge until he was elected to the appellate court in 1988. He was a private practice lawyer for seven years before he was appointed associate judge.
He is a member of the St. Clair County and Illinois State Bar Associations and former president of the Illinois Judges' Association. Goldenhersh is a member of the Supreme Court Committee on Complex Litigation, the ISBA Section Council on Civil Practice and Procedure and former chairperson of the Associate Judge Coordinating Committee.
The longest-serving justice at the Fifth District is Republican Thomas Welch, 78, of Collinsville. He was first elected to the appellate court in 1980, and his current term expires at the end of 2020.