A Joint Task Force on the Illinois Court System has been formed by the Illinois State and Chicago Bar Associations to focus on critical issues facing the bench. Among them are:

• State funding of the court system throughout the state.

• Independence of the judiciary from outside influences.

• Campaign finance reform in judicial elections.

• Deficiencies in the system of electing and retaining judges.

• Activism by state and national organizations toward the results of judicial elections.

“There is no greater danger to our governing principle of separation of powers than the increasing assault on the independence of the judiciary by special interests,” said ISBA President Bob Downs.

“Although they are elected, judges are not like legislators who campaign to represent certain interests or segments of the electorate. Judges must be objective and treat each case under the law,” he added.

“When this difference becomes blurred, we no longer have a fairly functioning judicial system before which all people stand as equals.”

CBA President Michael B. Hyman said the goal of the task force is “to enhance the credibility, the efficiency and the effectiveness of the court system in Illinois. We need to adapt the courts to meet the realities and challenges of the 21st century.”

Co-chairs of the task force are Prof. Ann Lousin of The John Marshall Law School and Chicago attorney James J. Ayres, a member of the ISBA Bench and Bar Section Council.

Two past chairs of the Bench and Bar Section Council serve on the task force – Joan C. Grant and Magistrate Judge Morton Denlow of U.S. District Court, also a member of the Federal Civil Practice Section Council – along with Alfred M. Swanson, Bench and Bar Section newsletter editor and secretary of the Local Government Law Section Council.

Also serving is ISBA Assembly member Patrice Ball-Reed, secretary of the Committee on Bar Publications and member of the Illinois Bar Journal Editorial Board, Committee on Women and the Law and Committee on Bar Services and Activities.

Other task force members are Cook County Judge Lewis Nixon, Steven Pflaum, Timothy Ray, Peter Segal and Homero Tristan.