Fifth District Appellate Court Justices David Overstreet and Judy Cates were rated "highly recommended" in the Illinois State Bar Association judicial evaluation released this week.
Overstreet, a Republican from Mt. Vernon, and Cates, a Democrat from Swansea, seek election to the Illinois Supreme Court for the seat of retiring Justice Lloyd Karmeier, as is their Republican colleague John Barberis of St. Jacob. The ISBA judicial evaluation committee rated Barberis "not recommended."
Cates is running unopposed in the upcoming March 17 primary. Overstreet and Barberis will face off on the GOP ticket.
Barberis has in the past downplayed the ISBA judicial evlauation process, saying that it is more political than substantive.
He has not yet responded to a request for comment on the ISBA's findings.
The ISBA states that it reviews appellate and supreme court candidates in a comprehensive evaluation process, including a detailed background investigation by members of the ISBA Judicial Evaluations Committee, followed by an in-person interview of the candidate. The committee then decides whether to rate the candidate recommended, highly recommended or not recommended.
Another ISBA evaulation is its Judicial Advisory Poll, where members of the ISBA in the circuit or district from which a candidate seeks election rate the candidates. Non-member attorneys can also request an evaulation ballot. The advisory poll for Barberis, Cates and Overstreet produced similar results as the judicial evaluation committees.
In the advisory poll, candidates are rated recommend or not recommended based on whether the attorney making the evaulation agrees that the candidate meets acceptable requirements for the office. Candidates must receive at least 65 percent "yes" responses to be recommended. The percentage is based on "yes" responses to each question; "no opinion" responses are not included, according to the ISBA.
Overstreet and Cates were recommended in the advisory poll. Barberis was not recommended.
Here is how the candidates were rated.
| Number of Responses | Recommended/Not Recommended | Meets Requirements Of Office | Integrity | Impartiality | Legal Ability | Temperament | Court Management | Health | Sensitivity |
| 250 | NR | 38.27 | 65.07 | 48.54 | 36.13 | 67.95 | 56.83 | 86.19 | 61.71 |
| 425 | R | 71.71 | 76.43 | 68.36 | 92.53 | 74.03 | 92.93 | 91.47 | 88.52 |
| 391 | R | 87.50 | 92.45 | 88.05 | 91.67 | 94.50 | 92.82 | 96.99 | 90.57 |
Overstreet responded to the results saying he was "humbled and honored" for the designations of the evaluations committee and the attorneys who rated him.
"The people of Illinois deserve a fair, impartial jurist that will uphold all of our constitutional rights and apply the law as it is written. I am a constitutional conservative and will remain so as Fifth District Supreme Court Justice," he said in a press release.
Early voting is already under way. Mail-in ballots can be requested by contacting the election authority where the voter is registered.