Illinois Supreme Court Justice David K. Overstreet announced Thursday that Madison County Circuit Judge Amy Sholar was appointed to the Illinois Fifth District Appellate Court.
Sholar was assigned to fill a newly created judicial seat in the Fifth Appellate District.
“I am honored and humbled that Justice Overstreet has chosen to assign me to the newly created Fifth District Appellate seat,” Sholar stated. “I vow to bring the same level of integrity, fairness, and hard work to this new role, as I brought to the role of presiding judge of the Family Division in the Third Judicial Circuit.”
She will take the appellate bench on March 1 and will continue serving in that role until further order of the court.
“Judge Amy Sholar has excelled in every facet of her legal career including her time as a circuit judge in the Third Circuit,” Overstreet stated. “She will be an outstanding addition to the Fifth District Appellate Court.”
State Sen. Erica Harriss (R-Glen Carbon) said she was “thrilled” about Sholar’s appointment.
“I believe her extensive legal expertise and knowledge uniquely qualify her for this distinguished role.”
Sholar was first appointed to the bench in Madison County on April 30, 2021. She was then elected to her seat as a resident circuit judge in 2022, serving as the presiding judge of the Family Division.
Scholar defeated a gerrymandered law that immediately split Madison County into three judicial subcircuits. Sholar ran on the Republican ticket and beat Democrat Ebony Huddleston by 3,428 votes for the vacancy created by former Circuit Judge Richard Tognarelli’s retirement.
Sholar, who had lived in Godfrey, had to move away from her residence in order to be eligible to run for the seat she already held by appointment of the Illinois Supreme Court, as lawmakers drew her out of Subcircuit 1 where the contest was decided.
Sholar was later appointed to serve on the Judicial Inquiry Board in May 2023. The Judicial Inquiry Board is tasked with judicial discipline in Illinois. The board receives, initiates and investigates complaints concerning active Illinois state court judges.
Prior to her time on the bench, Sholar was a founding partner at Sholar Stephen Law, where she worked from 2016 to 2021.
From 2004 to 2016, Scholar worked in private practice at The Law Office of Amy Sholar, P.C. She also served as the planning coordinator for the City of Alton for three years and worked as an intern with the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office prior to her time in private practice.
Sholar earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Southern Illinois University and her Juris Doctor from the Saint Louis University School of Law.
She was appointed to the Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees by former Gov. Bruce Rauner in April 2015. She later resigned in December 2020 before taking the bench as circuit judge. During her term, she served as Chairperson of the Board from 2018 to 2019.
Sholar is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, the Madison County Bar Association, and the Alton-Wood River Bar Association, where she formerly served as president and secretary.
The Fifth District Appellate Court hears cases from the southernmost part of Illinois, including the following counties: Alexander, Bond, Champaign, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Edwards, Effingham, Fayette, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Lawrence, Macon, Madison, Marion, Massac, Monroe, Montgomery, Moultrie, Perry, Piatt, Pope, Pulaski, Randolph, Richland, St. Clair, Saline, Shelby, Union, Vermilion, Wabash, Washington, Wayne, White and Williamson.