Illinois Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride wants voters to retain him for another 10-year term. But some Republicans are opposing him with a multimillion dollar advertising blitz in the final days of his campaign.
Tim Shelley spoke with Kilbride recently about the race, and why he believes he deserves another term.
Tim Shelley: You're looking to be retained for another 10-year term on the Supreme Court of Illinois. You've already been there 20 years. Why do you want another 10-year term on the courts? And why should the people of the Third District retain you?
Thomas Kilbride: Well, I enjoy the job tremendously. And it's it's good work for a lawyer to be involved ... on the Supreme Court, to be involved in the development in the establishment of the law throughout the state of Illinois, set the parameters for the appellate courts and the trial courts to make sure there's a loving level playing field across the board for for everybody to ensure fairness.
And I think voters should vote for me for those reasons, just because I am committed to making sure we have fairness and balance in the court. And, as I said before, a level playing field for folks.
And I've been endorsed across the district on a bipartisan basis. And from the former Gov. James Thompson, who prior to his death endorsed me, along with former chief justices, and you know, (there's) a lot of talk about Republicans and Democrats, but two former chief justices who were originally initially elected as Republicans, Chief Justice Ben Miller, and Chief Justice Bob Thomas, along with the whole cast of judges across the district. And only retired judges, or a judge who's seeking election, under our rules are allowed to to endorse. So that's why there's more retired (judges) that people hear about, but Judge (Stephen) Kouri is running for retention in the 10th Circuit. And that's why he's eligible. He's endorsed me. And I'm grateful for them for those endorsements, including prosecutors, sheriffs, and so forth. And they know the court system well.
TS: I've heard the theme of 'level playing field' come up several times, both in other remarks you've made and in various campaign (materials), so let's let's talk a little bit about how you in your role as a Supreme Court justice seek to level out that playing field and what you've done in in your last two terms here on the court to achieve that?
TK: Well, I guess it comes down to an analysis of the court opinions, and there's 1,800 some that I've voted in over that time period. And it's allowing the voices to be heard in the cases and to make sure that working families especially and workers who, in their worker compensation cases or whatever across the board, that the procedures are in place to make sure that cases are properly heard.
TS: I know, also, you were chief justice for a few years. And during that time, increasing transparency in the courts was really one of the one of the big things you spearheaded. If you can just talk a little bit about what you've done in that realm, and where maybe you think courts in Illinois still need to go?
TK: Well, I served as chief justice from October of 2010 through October of 2013. The policy and practice has been to serve a term of three years. Chief judges are not reappointed within the Illinois Supreme Court.
I brought the cameras to the courtroom. And that's probably one of the biggest ways to achieve transparency. And we made some changes in terms of the publication of court opinions that are more available online than they used to be. And the Access to Justice Commission that we started in 2012. To bring to make the court system more accessible in terms of using plain language and forms, and (bringing) translators into the court for those who don't speak English as their first language, and those kinds of things.
And, you know, the devil is always in the details and getting it implemented and from the Supreme Court through the three levels of our court system into the trial courts, and that's pretty much it.
TS: Gotcha. And you kind of briefly alluded to this earlier, but this this race has turned partisan. I know the (Illinois) Republican Party held a press conference right here in Peoria, urging against your retention. There's a lot of money going into this on both sides, as well. What do you have to say about the partisan nature of how this is all going?
TK: Well, I think it's bad for the court system. I didn't start this politicization of the court system. You know, the opposition is attacking me. And in terms of raising funds, we wouldn't have any funding at play on either side of the aisle if they weren't, wouldn't be attacking me.
And I think it's, it's really a sad day for a court system. It strikes at the independence of the independence of the court system, judicial independence. And Chief Judge Kouri, again, talked about that in his interview that appeared in a story in the Peoria Journal Star over the weekend. And they're not being truthful with the voters in terms of my participation cases.
As I said, I've voted and participated in over 1,800 opinions, and they kind of point to like half a dozen cases. And those cases represent ones that I'm in the majority, or even cases that are unanimous by the Illinois Supreme Court. So I mean, they can't pin the donkey on me, as they say. And it's unfortunate, because they're not giving the straight skinny to the voters.
TS: And some of the cases that are repeatedly brought up are the the pension case and the term limits case, both of which were unanimous decisions, which the court had unanimously said were unconstitutional in the form in which they had been introduced or pushed forward.
And then there was the the redistricting, which I believe last time they came before the court, that was a 4-3 decision. So I don't know if you could just talk a little bit about what might need to happen in terms of there. I know you've said that redistricting isn't necessarily something that is out of the question or unconstitutional, but there were some problems with it in the forms that have popped up.
TK: Well, you mentioned three different cases you want. I need to clarify there on the term limits. They've suggested, well, argued, alleged, that I have struck down term limits. And the truth is, there is no single opinion that exists from the Illinois Supreme Court during my 20 years, there's been no vote, to allow or disallow term term limits. It's never been presented to the court. So that's false, it's inaccurate.
In terms of pension reform, again, that was a case decided across the board unanimously by all seven of us. And the redistricting language kind of gets mixed in with the citizen initiative about Fair Maps, which is in effect, redistricting. But it was brought impermissibly, invoking Article Eight in the Illinois constitution, without getting into the weeds too much.
But it's Article Four that governs citizen ballot initiatives to make any amendments to the procedural and substantive matters of the legislature under Article Four. And it's like a batter walking up to the plate. You got to stand in the batter's box or the umpire is going to disqualify you. This petition wasn't inside that article for the batter's box, it was inside article Eight, and was constitutionally defective. And that's the long and short of that case.
TS: Justice, one thing I do want to ask you about, just because it's such a big conversation in our country today, and I know it is in Illinois, and in Peoria, as well -- just the topic of criminal justice reform, specifically when it comes to African Americans in the system. And you know, expungements. Just where where are you on all of this? Do you see venues from your perspective where there might be ways to change just how the legal system is working?
TK: Well, again, I would point to something that Chief Judge Kouri had worked on. A pilot project with the Chief Judges Conference of the state of Illinois to focus on how to make the jury pool for criminal cases a better representation of the community. And that's been a successful project, but it's taking time to get implemented.
There are a number of measures taking place to pre-trial reform to make sure that people are not unduly held in jail, just simply because they don't have the funds. For example, if it's a low-level offense, and they don't have any history, they probably would be entitled to get to get out, but if there's a high bond set, that presents problems for a lot of individuals. Those kinds of things are being studied across the board in the state of Illinois by a pre-trial commission that is underway at Springfield.
TS: Justice, was there anything else that you would want the people here in Peoria to know specifically about your retention campaign, or just about the Supreme Court in general?
TK: Well, I guess two things. One, as I mentioned earlier, in terms of these, the advertising that's going on these TV ads and the the mailers that have been sent out in a targeted way to selected voters, not all voters. It's not true. It's not telling the whole story. And I gave you examples earlier about their misrepresentations in terms of pension reform, term limits, and so forth.
And the last thing I would say is what we expect from judges is an individual who will be thoughtful, who hear all sides of a case, receive all the evidence, listen to all the testimony. And that's what I would ask voters to to do is to make sure they've got all the information about my record, and not simply rely upon these 30-second shots of mudslinging that's going on, and to look at the the professionals who work in our court system, the legal profession. The Illinois State Bar (doesn't) make endorsements, but they they did review my background, my qualifications, and they recommended a' yes' on me. And the bipartisan group of judges (and) lawyers across the state of Illinois have also endorsed me. I think that's what the voters need to rely upon.
TS: Justice Kilbride, thank you so much for your time this afternoon. I appreciate it.
TK: Okay, thank you. All right.
An excerpt of WCBU's interview.
You can also listen to the full interview below:WCBU's full interview.
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