Illinois appellate justice Joy Cunningham was appointed by the Supreme Court to fill Burke’s seat until December 2024. Cunningham, a Democrat, will become the second black woman to serve on the state’s Supreme Court. The court also announced Monday that Justice Mary Jane Theis will succeed Burke as chief justice, taking office Oct. 26 for a three-year term. Burke is a Democrat, and her departure comes just before the Nov. 8 election, when the Supreme Court’s 4-3 Democratic majority faces a Republican challenge. It also comes as Burke’s husband, longtime Chicago Ald. Edward Burke, 14, is awaiting trial on federal corruption charges. Illinois Supreme Court Justice Ann Burke listens during oral arguments in a 2016 case at Benedictine University in Lisle. (Anthony Souffle/Chicago Tribune) “I have been blessed to serve as a Supreme Court justice for the past 16 years and have enjoyed working with my staff, colleagues and judicial staff to serve the people of Illinois,” Burke said in a statement. “The past three years as Chief Justice have been a challenging time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but I am thrilled with the progress made by the Illinois courts.” Burke, 78, was appointed to the Supreme Court on July 6, 2006, following the retirement of Justice Mary Ann McMorrow, and was elected to the bench in 2008. Burke was retained for a second 10-year term in 2018 with 81% of the vote, becoming its chief court next year. Before the high court, he spent a decade as an appeals court judge. During her tenure on the appeals court, Burke served on a national review board appointed by the U.S. Catholic bishops to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by clergy. He also spent a short time in the 1990s working for then-Republican Gov. Jim Edgar as special counsel for Child Welfare Services. Before that, he served under Edgar and his predecessor, GOP Gov. James Thompson, as a judge in the state’s Court of Claims, which hears claims for money damages from the public against state agencies. As a young employee at the Chicago Park District in the late 1960s, Burke helped create and launch the Special Olympics. When she finished law school, Burke was 40 and a mother of four. Burke was no stranger to controversy during her time on the Supreme Court. There were questions about her husband’s longtime leadership role in the Cook County Democratic Party, a position influential in determining who gets seats on the bench. There were also questions about a political fundraiser for Cook County Council President Toni Preckwinkle held at Burke’s home in 2018, but a state oversight board found she did not violate judicial conduct rules. A contribution made during this event is part of the federal allegations facing Ald. Burke. Justice Burke played a key role in some important Supreme Court decisions. In 2013, he wrote the opinion allowing the state’s parental notification law for minors seeking abortions to go into effect after nearly two decades of judicial restraint. The law was repealed this year by Gov. JB Pritzker and the Democratic-controlled Legislature. Burke, whose husband is a former Chicago police officer, also authored the court’s 2014 opinion that cleared the disgraced former Chicago police chief. Jon Burge to keep his pension despite his 2010 felony conviction for lying about police torture of suspects. Most recently, Burke sided with the court’s three Republican judges in 2019 to deny a request to re-indict former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke in the 2014 shooting death of Laquan McDonald. Van Dyke was sentenced to just under seven years in prison and was released earlier this year after serving more than three years. Cunningham, who will succeed Burke in December, is the second black woman appointed to the state Supreme Court in its history and the second this year. In May, Rep. Lisa Holder-White of Decatur, then a judge in the state’s 4th Appellate District, became the first black woman appointed to the high court. He was sworn in July 7 after the retirement of longtime Justice Rita Garman. Cunningham ran unsuccessfully for the Supreme Court in 2012, finishing second among four candidates in a Democratic primary won by Theis, who won the general election by nearly 50 points. [email protected] [email protected]
