Close Call for Cook County Judges Found Not Qualified by Most Evaluators

Cook County voted to retain all of nearly 60 judges up for retention yesterday. However, the four judges found Not Qualified by a majority of bar associations received around a 63% “yes” vote while most other judges received well over 70%. To be retained, a judge must receive at least a 60% “yes” from voters.

Public education efforts like www.voteforjudges.org seem to have taken stronger hold in suburban Cook County than in Chicago.

Here are preliminary/unofficial suburban Cook County results for the four judges deemed Not Qualified by a majority of evaluators (click for larger view):

: Judge Cynthia Brim — suburban Cook County

: Judge Pamela Hill-Veal — suburban Cook County

: Judge Gloria Chevere — suburban Cook County

: Judge James D. Egan — suburban Cook County

Judge Christopher Donnelly -- suburban Cook County — Judge Christopher Donnelly — suburban Cook County

And here are the preliminary/unofficial results from the City of Chicago:

Judge Cynthia Brim -- City of Chicago — Judge Cynthia Brim — City of Chicago

Judge Pamela Hill-Veal -- City of Chicago — Judge Pamela Hill-Veal — City of Chicago

: Judge Gloria Chevere — City of Chicago

: Judge James D. Egan — City of Chicago

Judge Christopher Donnelly -- City of Chicago — Judge Christopher Donnelly — City of Chicago

From our sister site, www.voteforjudges.org:

I want to thank the more than 50,000 persons who used www.VoteforJudges.orgfor the November 2012 election. The voters retained all judges, but they barely retained those judges found not recommended by a majority of the groups evaluating judges. The voters are telling these judges that while they get another term, they need to focus on improving their judicial performance. They are sending a message that these judges should pay attention to the constructive criticisms offered by those groups which offer written explanations with their evaluation results. Tens of thousands of people will appear before these judges over the next six years. They deserve the highest quality judiciary possible.

For those of you who want to continue to follow the issues related to judicial performance, integrity, and independence, I suggest you visit our Center for Judicial Performance & Integrity.