Greenville attorney Tom DeVore has announced he will seek a seat on the Fifth District Appellate Court in the 2022 general election.
He will compete in the Republican primary with two other actively campaigning judges running for the seat vacated by Justice David Overstreet, who was elected to the Illinois Supreme Court last year.
DeVore's profile was heightened last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic as he led many attempts to curtail Gov. JB Pritzker’s use of emergency powers, though unsuccessfully.
The most recent suit he filed in Sangamon County in April argued that the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act improperly allowed Pritzker to assume powers that should be reserved only for elected lawmakers in the state legislature.
The lawsuit further argued the court should strip Pritzker of his emergency powers, because the law’s definition of “disaster” doesn’t square with the terms of the “disaster” Pritzker repeatedly cited to justify emergency declarations he issued every month for more than a year.
"The liberties and freedoms of our people are not suspended during an emergency and our Courts must do more to protect these rights," DeVore stated in his announcement.
Also running for the Overstreet vacancy is Justice Barry Vaughan, who was seated by appointment to the Fifth District in January.
Vaughan, of McLeansboro, simultaneously is an elected circuit judge in Hamilton County, of the Second Judicial Circuit. His appointment to the Fifth District came at the recommendation of Overstreet to fill the seat that had been occupied by Judge Mark Boie, who was elected to a permanent seat on the court last November.
In addition to Hamilton County, the Second Judicial Circuit includes Crawford, Edwards, Franklin, Gallatin, Hardin, Jefferson, Lawrence, Richland, Wabash, Wayne and White counties.
Vaughan was first elected circuit judge in Hamilton County on the Republican ticket in 2002 and was retained in 2008, 2014 and last November.
Fourth Judicial Circuit Judge Michael McHaney, who resides in rural Marion County, also is seeking the Overstreet seat as a Republican, in spite of having been elected circuit judge in 2010 on the Democratic ticket.
In addition to Marion County, the Fourth Judicial Circuit includes Christian, Clay, Clinton, Effingham, Fayette, Jasper, Montgomery, and Shelby counties.
Of his affiliation with the Democratic Party, McHaney told WJBD radio earlier this year: “That was 10 years ago. I am now one of millions and the best way I know to answer it is to quote from one of our greatest presidents….I didn’t leave the Democrat party, it left me.”
He is campaigning as a constitutional conservative.
In a June 4 post on social media, McHaney wrote: "This is one judge who ain’t ever gonna be woke and who will always uphold the Constitution and your civil liberties."
Notably, the paths of McHaney and DeVore crossed last year in a lockdown suit against Pritzker in Clay County.
McHaney granted a temporary restraining order to plaintiff Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), represented by DeVore, before the case was removed to federal court. (Bailey, now a state senator, is campaigning for governor against Pritzker).
At a hearing in Bailey's suit against Pritzker, McHaney said: “These executive orders are not laws. They are royal decrees...The last time a monarch tried to rule Americans, a shot was fired that was heard around the world.”
Candidates for the Fifth District will be covering more turf during the campaign season if a redrawn judicial district map withstands any potential legal challenge. The Fifth District, which currently includes the state's 38 southern most counties, would expand northward with an additional 11 counties, making it the most expansive judicial district in the state.
The state's primary election day next year will move from spring to summer. Pritzker signed legislation changing the primary from March 15 to June 28. The measure reportedly was intended to expand voting access, among other things.