A Proposal to Select Illinois Appellate and Supreme Court Justices
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A PROPOSAL TO SELECT ILLINOIS
APPELLATE AND SUPREME COURT
JUSTICES
Peter C. Alexander*
George M. Vineyard**
In Illinois and twenty other states, appellate-level judges are elected
by popular vote.' While this method of determining who will become a
reviewing-court judge is not inherently problematic, there has been a
decades-long outcry to reform the selection process in the Land of Lin-
coln and in many other jurisdictions.2
For years, critics have argued that merit selection of judges would
produce an independent, impartial and able judiciary and that the
election of judges is, among other things, bad for business.4 Within the
past decade, experts and voters alike have also criticized the influx of
* Visiting Professor, University of Arkansas-Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law.
B.A., Political Science, Southern Illinois University Carbondale; J.D., Northeastern University. I thank
Professors Christopher Behan, Mark Brittingham, and the late William Schroeder and Dean Paul
McGreal for their wisdom and helpful suggestions early in the research and writing stages. I also thank
Professor Stephanie Farrior for her research support and I thank my research assistants Paul Alexan-
der II, Nicholas Antonacci, Ryan Dattilo, Timothy Hudgspeth, Mykisha Jordan, Justin Macke, and
Madison Pitts for their excellent researching, writing, citation, and editing support over the many years
it took to complete this article.
** George M. Vineyard, Assistant Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness, St. Louis Col-
lege of Pharmacy. B.A., Psychology, M.S. Education, Ph.D. Statistics and Measurement, Southern Illi-
nois University Carbondale.
1. State-by-State Summary of Judicial Selection, USLEGAL, http://courts.uslegal.com/selection-
of-j udges/state-by-state-summary-of-j udicial-selection (last visited Oct. 1, 2017).
2. For a helpful history lesson regarding the selection/election of state-court judges, see Glenn
R. Winters, Selection ofJudges-An Historical Introduction, 44 TEX. L.R. 1081 (1966).
3. ROBERT W. BERGSTROM, THE CONTINUING EFFORT TO CREATE NONPARTISAN JUDICI-
ARIES IN THE STATE COURTS 2 (2001); see also Woodward v. Alabama, 134 S. Ct. 405, 408 (2013) (So-
tomayor, J., dissenting) (What could explain Alabama judges' distinctive proclivity for imposing death
sentences in cases where a jury has already rejected that penalty? ... The only answer that is supported
by empirical evidence is [that] Alabama judges, who are elected in partisan proceedings, appear to
have succumbed to electoral pressures.).
4. Buck Wargo, Former U.S. Supreme Court justice says appointed judges better for business,
LAS VEGAS SUN, (Sept. 22, 2010), http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/sep/22/former-us-supreme-
court-justice-says-appointed-jud; see also Judith Maute, Selecting Justice in State Courts: The Ballot Box
or the Back Room?, 41 S. TEX. L. REv. 1197 (2000).
22](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/uilro2017&div=5&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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A Proposal to Select Illinois Appellate and Supreme Court Justices
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