The Illinois Supreme Court has selected a new member, replacing Justice Thomas Kilbride who will be removed from the court after downstate voters made him the first Illinois high court justice ever to fall short of the votes required to retain his seat.
On Nov. 10, the Illinois Supreme Court’s six remaining justices voted unanimously to select Third District Appellate Justice Robert Carter to replace Kilbride.
Carter, 74, of LaSalle County, will serve on the Illinois Supreme Court until the next scheduled state elections in 2022. His term in office is scheduled to begin on Dec. 8.
Illinois Third District Appellate Justice Robert Carter
| Illinoiscourts.gov
Carter said in the statement he will retire following the two-year appointment, and will not seek election to the court from the Third Appellate District.
Carter has served as a judge in Illinois since 1979. He was elected to the LaSalle County Circuit in 1988, serving as chief judge beginning in 1993. He was elected to the circuit court as a Democrat.
Carter was appointed to the Illinois Third District Appellate Court in downstate Ottawa in 2006. He has served on that court since.
“I am humbled by the confidence and trust the Court has placed in me as it is the honor and privilege of a lifetime to serve on the Illinois Supreme Court,” Carter said in a prepared statement issued by the Illinois Supreme Court.
Kilbride did not participate in the vote to select Carter, according to the Illinois Supreme Court.
Last week, voters in the Third District rejected Kilbride’s campaign to retain his seat on the court.
Kilbride had occupied that seat since 2000, when he was first elected to the state high court.
The state’s Supreme Court justices are elected to 10-year terms by voters from various districts, weighted by population. The state’s First Appellate District, which solely covers Cook County, the state’s most populous county, gets three seats on the court.
Those seats are currently filled by Chief Justice Anne M. Burke and justices Mary Jane Theis and P. Scott Neville, who was just elected as a Democrat to a 10-year term by Cook County voters last week.
The state’s remaining districts get one justice each. Justice David Overstreet was elected as a Republican last week, from the state’s Fifth Appellate District in southern Illinois.
Justice Rita B. Garman serves from the state’s Fourth Appellate District, which is based in Springfield, and Justice Michael Burke (no relation to Anne Burke) was appointed last year to fill the unexpired term of retired Justice Robert Thomas from the Second Appellate District.
Once elected, justices are required to stand before voters for retention. To win retention, they must secure at least 60% of the vote in their district. If they fall short, they are removed.
According to unofficial returns, Kilbride secured about 56% of the voter in the Third District.
The Third District runs from Will and Kankakee counties, west to the Mississippi River, encompassing a broad swath of north central and western Illinois, including LaSalle County, Peoria County and Rock Island County, among others.
Kilbride was targeted for defeat by opponents who labeled him the “favorite justice” of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. They pointed to substantial financial backing from Madigan’s Illinois Democratic Party and Madigan’s political organizations as proof of Madigan’s support.
Kilbride’s opponents said his reliance on such political support, as well as past decisions favoring Madigan and Democratic interests, raised too many questions about his judicial independence from those who now control Illinois’ state government.
They particularly pointed to Kilbride’s authorship of a state Supreme Court decision which blocked an effort by Illinois citizens to place a referendum on the statewide ballot, allowing voters to amend the state constitution to change the way Illinois draws its legislative boundaries.
That effort was opposed by Madigan and his political allies, who currently are vested with the power to draw the legislative maps that opponents said play a large role in building Madigan’s political power in Springfield and statewide.
The Kilbride retention race drew strong financial backing from both sides, with more than $10 million spent in the campaign.
Kilbride’s defeat had raised questions over how the Illinois Supreme Court would replace Kilbride, as no state Supreme Court justice had yet been removed by voters and created the need to fill such a vacancy.
The Supreme Court holds the power by law to appoint members to fill vacancies until elections can be held.