PROCEDURES FOR RECONSIDERATION OF OPINIONS ISSUED BY THE
ILLINOIS JUDICIAL ETHICS COMMITTEE

The following procedures shall be employed by the Illinois Judicial Ethics Committee (IJEC) on receipt of a request to reconsider a published opinion.

1. Written Requests.

a) The IJEC shall only entertain written requests to reconsider a published opinion.
b) All reconsideration requests shall be made in writing, stating the reasons the opinion should be reconsidered and addressed to the IJEC Chair or Administrator.

2. Distribution to Committee. Upon receipt of a reconsideration request, the request shall be distributed to all IJEC Members (Members) and placed on the agenda for the next regularly scheduled meeting.

3. Presentation of Request to Committee.

a) The reconsideration request shall be considered at the first meeting at which the request appears on the agenda.
b) Consideration of the request may be deferred on motion to the next regularly scheduled meeting; provided, however, that no reconsideration request shall be deferred for more than two meetings after the request first appears on the agenda.

4. Vote to Send to Ad Hoc Subcommittee.

a) After discussing the reconsideration request, the Members shall vote whether to submit the request to the Ad Hoc Reconsideration Subcommittee (Subcommittee) for further analysis or to decline to reconsider the opinion.
b) A vote by a majority of all Members present shall be required to submit the reconsideration request to the Subcommittee.

5. Ad Hoc Reconsideration Subcommittee. The Subcommittee shall consist of three members including the primary author of the opinion being reconsidered and at least one judge and at least one lawyer. One of the Subcommittee's members shall be designated the Chair; provided, however, that the Chair of the Subcommittee shall not be the primary author of the opinion being reconsidered.

6. Standard of Review--Good Cause.

a) The Subcommittee shall promptly review the opinion and the reconsideration request and determine whether good cause exists to withdraw, revise or clarify the opinion.
b) Good cause to withdraw an opinion shall consist of a mistake of fact or of law that renders the opinion erroneous.
c) Good cause to revise or to clarify an opinion shall consist of a statement or an omission that renders the opinion unclear or incomplete.

7. Report of Ad Hoc Reconsideration Subcommittee. The Subcommittee shall promptly inform the Members of the basis on which the Subcommittee determined whether or not good cause exists to withdraw, clarify or revise the opinion.

8. Supermajority Required for Reconsideration. A vote of two thirds of all members entitled to vote shall be required to withdraw, revise or clarify an opinion.

9. Redraft of Opinion.

a) If the Members determine an opinion should be revised or clarified, the revision or clarification shall be prepared by the Subcommittee and presented to the Members for final approval for publication.
b) A majority of all members entitled to vote shall be required to approve an opinion that has been revised or clarified by the Subcommittee.

10. Designation of Withdrawn or Revised Opinions.

a) An opinion that has been revised or clarified without altering its basis conclusion shall retain the number under which it was originally published and the statement that it was modified on reconsideration as of the date the Members approved the revision or clarification.
b) When an opinion is withdrawn, the index of published opinions shall contain a statement that the opinion has been withdrawn. A replacement opinion shall be disseminated that contains no information except the number of the case and the statement that the opinion was withdrawn and the caveat that the previously published opinion is not to be cited or relied upon as expressing the opinion of the IJEC.

May 23, 1995