Latest News - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

Links of Interest: April 23-27, 2012

Judicial Performance and Elections The Sun-Times called for a rewrite of the rules on judicial recusal. We will be co-sponsoring a forum on judicial independence and recusal standards on May 23. Sponsor Justice at Stake has a resource page on recusal. Along with Chicago Appleseed, co-sponsor the...

Cook County Circuit Court Elects 9 Qualified & Well Qualified Associate Judges

The Cook County Circuit Court elected 9 new associate judges, all of whom were found qualified or well qualified by our affiliate, Chicago Council of Lawyers. Associate judges have the same authority as all other circuit court judges, although their salary is slightly lower. Associate Judges are ele...

Save the Date: 5/23/12 “Judicial Independence in a Citizens United World”

Please join us... Protecting Judicial Independence in a Citizens United World - New Ways of Looking at Judicial Recusal and Campaign Contribution Disclosure Sponsored by Justice at Stake Campaign and Co-Sponsored by Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice Chicago Council of Lawyers Illinois Campaign...

Links of Interest: April 16-20, 2012

Judicial Performance and Elections The Statesman reports, Texas lawmakers are rankled by the state's judicial ethics rules, which seem to permit the judicial oversight commission attorney-client privilege to "keep secret" some of its investigation findings. "I've never heard of that," said Sen....

Featured Resource: OpenPensions.org

While we don't normally write about public finance, we support any efforts to increase government transparency. Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer's Open Pensions website does just this. Commissioner Gainer is chairwoman of the County's pension oversight committee. The site addresses an import...