Illinois Supreme Court issued the following announcement on Feb. 17.
Justice David K. Overstreet and the Illinois Supreme Court have announced the appointment of Steven M.J. Bost as an At-Large Circuit Judge in the First Judicial Circuit.
Mr. Bost is being appointed to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Brad K. Bleyer effective August 3, 2020. The appointment takes effect on March 1, 2021, and will conclude on December 5, 2022, when the vacancy will be filled by the winner of the November 2022 general election.
“Steven Bost is an impressive public servant who has served his country honorably in the United States Marine Corps as a Judge Advocate both as an active duty Marine and now as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Marine Corps Reserves,” Justice Overstreet said. “Besides representing clients for several years in private practice in southern Illinois, he has more recently served as the Chief Public Defender in Jackson County and has earned an outstanding reputation that transcends party lines. He will make an excellent judge.” Justice Overstreet recommended the appointment to the full Court following a review of applicants by an eight-person screening committee, which included the Honorable Mark Clarke (ret.); Honorable Terry Foster (ret.); Honorable Carolyn Smoot (ret.); former U.S. Attorney Courtney Cox of Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard; Southern Illinois University School of Law professor Christopher Behan; attorney Michael Burke of the Southern Illinois Law Center; managing attorney Diane Goffinet for the Southern Regional Office of the Land of Lincoln Legal Aid; and attorney Kelly Phelps of Jelliffe, Doerge & Phelps.
“I am grateful and humbled by this opportunity and would like to thank Justice Overstreet and the committee for this appointment,” Mr. Bost said. “I look forward to serving the residents of the First Judicial Circuit. I also would like to thank my beautiful wife Betsy for all of her support over the years.”
Mr. Bost has served as the Chief Public Defender in Jackson County since 2019. Prior to this, he was in private practice as the owner of his own firm and as a partner at Miller & Bost, Attorneys at Law, LLP. From 2006 to 2013, Bost served as a Marine Officer and Judge Advocate in the United States Marine Corps, and he continues serving in this role today in the United States Marine Corps Reserve.
From 2015 to 2019 he was an elected Jackson County Board Member for the Third District. Mr. Bost earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Southern Illinois University and his Juris Doctor from the Southern Illinois University School of Law. Mr. Bost also serves as a part-time lecturer at Southern Illinois University in the Legal Aspects of Aviation, Aviation Management and Flight. He was selected as a 2016 Edgar Fellow by the Institute of Government Affairs at the University of Illinois.
Mr. Bost’s professional associations include the Jackson County Bar Association, of which he is a past President, the Illinois State Bar Association, and the Illinois Public Defender Association.
The First Judicial Circuit encompasses Alexander, Jackson, Johnson, Massac, Pope, Pulaski, Saline, Union, and Williamson counties.
Original source can be found here.