Justice Sanjay Tailor Sworn-in as Newest Member of the Illinois Supreme Court
Justice Sanjay T. Tailor, a 23-year veteran trial and appellate court judge and the first Asian American to sit on the Illinois Supreme Court, was sworn in today by Chief Justice P. Scott Neville at an installation ceremony held in Chicago.
“I am honored by the trust and confidence placed in me by the justices of the Illinois Supreme Court,” Justice Tailor said. “I look forward to continuing the work of the court to ensure that our system of justice serves all people fairly and equitably.”
Justice Tailor has served as a judge since 2003. In 2022, the Illinois Supreme Court assigned him to serve as a justice of the Illinois Appellate Court, First District. As an appellate court justice, he also served as the presiding judge of the Sixth Division of the First District Appellate Court and on the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission Division of the court.
Justice Tailor previously served as an associate judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County between 2003 and 2021, where he was assigned to the Traffic, Municipal, Domestic Relations, Law, and Chancery Divisions. In January 2021, the Illinois Supreme Court appointed him to Circuit Judge. At the same time, he was named Presiding Judge of the Circuit Court’s County Division, making him the first Asian American presiding judge in Illinois. He also served on the Cook County Chief Judge’s Associate Judge Nominating Committee, where he helped vet and “short-list” candidates for appointment as associate judge. In 2022, Justice Tailor was elected to Cook County Circuit Judge with 81% of the vote.
Prior to becoming a judge, he practiced law as an associate at Chapman and Cutler, as in-house counsel at the First National Bank of Chicago, and as a Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney, where he tried high profile and high exposure civil jury and bench cases and supervised attorneys in the Civil Actions Bureau. He earned his Juris Doctorate degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, graduating cum laude, where he later returned to teach a course for two decades on Illinois civil procedure. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in biological sciences from the University of Delaware.
Justice Tailor is a board trustee of the Illinois Judicial College, the body entrusted with the continuing education and training of Illinois judges and their justice partners, including probation officers, court clerks, guardians ad litem, trial court administrators, law clerks, and pre-trial administrators. He is a commissioner of the Illinois Supreme Court’s Commission on Access to Justice. He is also a board trustee of the Judges Retirement System of Illinois. He previously served on the Illinois Supreme Court’s Judicial Education Committee, and Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee.
Justice Tailor is the immediate past president of the Asian American Judges Association of Illinois. He is a past president and director of the Lawyers Club of Chicago, the second oldest bar association in Chicago. He is also a past chair of the India Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section of International Law. He is a founding director of the South Asian Bar Association of Chicago.
Justice Tailor is a past president and board director of Apna Ghar, a domestic violence agency serving the Asian American community in the Chicagoland area. In addition, for 25 years, he served as a board director of Impact for Equity (f/k/a Business and Professional People for the Public Interest), a public-interest law and policy center combating racial, economic, and social injustice affecting Chicagoland’s most disadvantaged communities.
(FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: James Brunner, Public Information Officer of the Illinois Supreme Court at 217.208.3354 or jbrunner@illinoiscourts.gov.)