(The Center Square) – Officials from different Illinois judiciary groups across the state have introduced a Declaration of Judicial Independence to inform the public of the threat of misinformation before the election.
The Illinois Judges Association, representing 1,250 sitting and retired judges in Illinois, introduced the declaration on Tuesday during a virtual meeting about the document.
The document’s purpose is to provide voters with accurate information on judicial candidates ahead of the November election.
Chicago Bar Association President Timothy Tomasik said it is an issue that has been going on for years.
“We are so concerned about the reckless and sometimes ruthless number of politically motivated attacks that have been occurring on our judiciary over the past several years,” Tomasik said.
Eileen O’Neill Burke, president of the ILJA, said misinformation hurts the judicial process.
“These attacks, often bolstered by ideologues or well-funded special interest groups, threaten the legitimacy of the judicial branch and erode public confidence in a judge’s ability to render impartial outcomes,” said O’Neill Burke. “These partisan-driven agendas are designed to intimidate judges for their role as neutral arbitrators of the law.”
Illinois State Bar Association President Rory Weiler suggested where the public should seek information about judicial candidates.
“One of the missions of the ISBA has been to improve the administration of justice through the selection of judges,” Weiler said. “We year in and year out conduct two different kinds of evaluations of all the judicial candidates that are running throughout the state.”
The declaration is co-signed by 18 groups, including the Illinois Defense Counsel, the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, and the American Board of Trial Advocates Illinois.
The document release comes less than a month before the Nov. 8 election.
