About Elizabeth Monkus

Elizabeth Monkus (she/her) is the Senior Attorney & Project Director for Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts. Elizabeth came to Chicago Appleseed in 2010 to manage the Judicial Performance Commission Demonstration project. She currently focuses on domestic relations and judicial elections in her program work.

Ruling in Sanchez v. Torres in the Illinois Appellate Court

In August, Chicago Appleseed joined an amicus authored by the Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project of the George Washington University Law School and attorneys at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP filed before the Illinois Appellate court in Sanchez v. Torres. At issue in the case w...
February 2, 2016

Constitutionality and the Six Member Jury

In June of this year, an amendment to 735 ILCS 5/2-1105 went into effect, reducing the size of juries in civil trials in Illinois from twelve jurors to six. The ostensible purpose of the reduction in jury size was to accommodate a rise in juror pay (from $17.20 per day in Cook County to $25 for the...
January 6, 2016

Judicial Elections, Ethics Rules and the Ongoing Impact of Campaign Financing

The Tennessee Rules for judicial election campaign conduct are considered an excellent model for Supreme Court rules in jurisdictions that elect judges. In early December, the Tennessee Supreme Court amended the provisions of the Code of Judicial Conduct regarding judges and judicial candidates’ ele...
January 4, 2016

Cook County Domestic Relations Court Changes

Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice has been working with a task force for the Presiding Judge of the Domestic Relations Division, Grace Dickler, for several years to improve the court. The work has been very rewarding and plans for a pilot courtroom based upon our work have been approved for 2016. I...
December 14, 2015

Chicago Council of Lawyers’ Statement on the Chicago Police Department

Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice has been a part of the Chicago social justice community for over 40 years. We are proud of the relationships we have built with many reform-minded members of our courts and County government. Like the rest of the community, we are disturbed by the systemic failures...
December 10, 2015
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