Abner Mikva, former Illinois legislator, Congressman, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and Chief Counsel to the President, has agreed to be the luncheon speaker at the 27th annual convention of the Illinois Judges Association, scheduled for the Sheraton Hotel and Towers in Chicago, December 10th through 12th, 1998.

Judge Mikva has enjoyed a varied and distinguished career in public service. He brings to his IJA address a rare perspective on the American system of government, having held over a 40-year career important positions in both the state and federal systems, and in all three branches of government.

He received his law degree in 1951 from the University of Chicago, where he was editor of the law review. After clerking for Supreme Court Justice Sherman Minton, Mikva returned to Chicago to practice labor law in the firm of the late Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg.

In 1956 he was elected as an independent Democrat to the Illinois House of Representatives, where he served five terms. As chairman of the judiciary committee, he was credited with authoring comprehensive reforms in mental health law and criminal law. He was then elected to Congress for five terms, serving on the judiciary and ways and means committees.

Judge Mikva was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by President Carter in 1979. He served as that court's chief judge from 1991 to 1994, when President Clinton named him his chief counsel. Since his retirement from that position in 1995, he has been Walter V. Schaefer Scholar at the University of Chicago.

Judge Mikva is a man with strong opinions, and he expresses them forcefully. An op-ed piece he authored before the primary election this year is reprinted in this issue of The Gavel.

The convention committee, co-chaired by Judges Pat McGann and Gloria Coco, promises an entertaining and useful meeting. Details will appear in the Fall issue of The Gavel. In the meantime, mark your calendar and clear your docket so you can be part of this once-a-year opportunity for collegiality and growth.

On the evening of May 22, the last day of the legislative session, the Illinois Senate voted down, 31 to 25, the resolution to reject the pay increases recommended by the compensation review board.

As a result, judicial salaries will increase by 3 % on July 1, 1998, and by another 3 % on July 1, 1999.

When coupled with the 2.9 % cost-of-living adjustment also scheduled to take effect on July 1 of this year, gross salaries will be $138,049 for justices of the supreme court; $129,928 for appellate court justices; $119,226 for circuit judges; and $111,106 for associate judges.

The additional 3 % increase effective July 1, 1999, will bring those salaries to $142,190, $133,825, $122,803, and $114,439, respectively, plus the applicable COLA. Excerpts from the first-hand account by President Mary Jane Theis of IJA efforts to achieve the pay raise appear on page 2 of this issue.

The honor roll of legislators who voted for the raise appears on the IJA web page at http://ija.org/legisl.htm.

The recent finding of the Illinois State Bar Association that 45 percent of the candidates running in the March 17 primary for a seat on the Cook County bench could not be recommended after careful screening proves an important point: Judges should not be elected, they should be selected. Judges should be separated from the political arena for several reasons.

In Illinois, where almost 200 candidates are running for the state and local bench in the March primary, there is no way that the average voter can be expected to know the credentials of them all to make the best selection, nor can the voter find readily accessible information on individual candidates. It takes an extreme effort to find out enough information for the voter to make a really independent choice. That may account for the low percentage of voters who turned out for the most recent election, or even bothered to vote for judges.

Voters can obtain information about each judicial candidate by calling their local and state bar associations or court monitoring group, or by reading their local newspapers, but who really has the time to do that? Pity the poor citizen who tries. And even then, the voter is delegating much of the choice to the unnamed people who screened the candidates for the groups or newspapers. As a former member of Congress and a judge, I have difficulty wending my way through the maze of Illinois judicial election and retention ballots.

There is another issue beyond voter awareness and responsibility, and this issue goes to the heart of the matter.

Judges should not be in the political arena where they are forced to raise money, sometimes from the very lawyers who may appear before them in court. Many people give to political campaigns because they believe they are buying access, and it is that perception that is dangerous.

Citizens do have access to the political process through contact with their elected officials--at the federal level the President and the Congress; and at the local level through municipal and state officials. But the judiciary is supposed to operate in a different manner, without outside influence and under accepted guidelines. Judges shouldn't be glad-handing at ward meetings, and making themselves "accessible."

People who sit on the bench are supposed to be above the fray, so they can decide cases based on the law, not on the whims of politics, polls, or personal relationships. They should separate themselves completely from the political world. Judges who announce they are for or against capital punishment, or are tough or soft on crime, should never sit on the bench.

Judges should be impartial, and consider each case on its merits. I had that brought home in a very minor, but personal way.

I moved to Washington as a member of Congress, and was accustomed to spending time at the Democratic Club, which was across the street from my Capitol Hill home. It was a place where I was comfortable and all kinds of people gathered. Shortly after being appointed to the bench I took a Republican friend there, and was chided by a judicial colleague.

"You must never go there again," he warned. "It is the appearance that is important." For 15 years, I never set foot in the club again. (When I left the bench I went back for dinner.)

I understood that perception is reality, and judges must be impartial, and political ties negate that perception. No one walking into a courtroom should be able to predict what a sitting judge will do. Campaigning in judicial elections sends out all the wrong perceptions of what judges do.

Potential judges should go through a screening process, and be selected on basis of merit, which the American Bar Association has endorsed since 1972. Thirty-eight states have some method of merit selection. Under this system, judges are recom mended on the basis of background, experience and expertise. Illinois, and other states that still elect judges, should move to this system.

Our judges should be on the bench not because of political connections, or advertising, or because they changed their names to reflect a particular ethnic heritage -- as has been reported in Illinois. Judges should be on the bench because they are the best possible persons to be there.

It's time Illinois developed a new attitude toward judicial selection. Our citizens deserve it.

From the editor:

Would you like to respond to Judge Mikva? Do you have an opinion on this or some other issue that you would like to share with your fellow judges? Or a report on some event or procedure in your court that might be of general interest? If so, please send your contribution to:

C. David Nelson
Editor, The Gavel
Saline County Courthouse
Harrisburg, IL 62946
Telephone: (618) 253-8741
Fax: (618) 252-8438
dnelson@midwest.net

Manuscripts submitted for the Fall issue must be received no later than August 31.

The IJA board of directors met on June 12 in Springfield.

President Mary Jane Theis reported on recent activities of the president's task force, including hosting a dinner for the conference of chief judges in March, and sponsoring an election night event in Cook County, enabling judicial candidates (largely ignored by the media) to obtain early results.

With increasing visibility come increasing demands. Justice Theis has been appointed to two committees of the Chicago Bar Association: one designed to provide a quick response team to meet unfair judicial criticism, the other to conduct a poll seeking to determine how people make decisions in judicial races, to aid in the design of judicial evaluations.

The Association has joined the ISBA in supporting a constitutional amendment (on the ballot in November) which would add two lay members to the Courts Commission. As Justice Theis expressed it to the media, "The Illinois courts belong to the Illinois people."

After considerable discussion, the Board voted to co-sponsor (with the ISBA) a symposium on sentencing. First vice-president Tim Slavin was named chair of a new committee to formulate a policy on the IJA's participation in substantive law programs.

Paid members so far in 1998 (the fiscal year is December 1 to November 30) are 636 active and 214 retired judges. At the end of the prior fiscal year, members included 666 active and 281 retired judges. A $130,100 budget for fiscal year 1998-99 was approved. At the request of the auditor, an expense reimbursement policy was adopted.

After a spirited presentation by Phil Benefiel, dues for retired judges were reduced to $75 for 1998-99.

A central theme of Justice Mary Jane Theis's tenure as IJA president has been improving the relationship between judges and the community at large.

The community relations committee, chaired by Stuart A. Nudelman, is in the process of compiling a directory of successful community programs offered by courts statewide.

"Many judges have already implemented extremely worthwhile projects in their communities," Judge Nudelman said. "Our objective is to communicate to each other and the public the ways in which judges are making a difference."

If you have a project to share, please contact Judge Nudelman or Kathy McEnroe, IJA executive secretary.

The committee aims at developing programs to enhance public understanding of the judiciary, benefit groups which deal with the justice system, and encourage greater respect for judges as community leaders. One of the initial programs is expected to be held for school children in the fall at the Chicago Cultural Center.

Plans are underway to produce educational videotapes about the responsibilities of judges for distribution statewide to cable television stations. One video, produced by the Circuit Court of Cook County with IJA assistance, is already being aired by nearly 20 cable channels. Entitled "Wasted," it is a fictionalized portrayal of the financial and human costs of driving under the influence.

Cooperative school-oriented initiatives involving among other things judges speaking to junior high school students about the role of the judge, the ways in which one becomes a judge, and other isues related to the judiciary--are also being explored with the American Judicature Society.

A recent article in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin says that Chief Judge Donald P. O'Connell of the circuit court of Cook County has calculated that Cook County trial judges, 48.1% of the state's total, are doing 52.6% of the work.

O'Connell's study was reportedly occasioned by indications that the Illinois Supreme Court intends to reduce or eliminate the temporary assignment of downstate judges to Cook County.

In fact, chief judges throughout the state have been notified, without elaboration, that in future only associate judges, not circuit judges, are to be assigned to Cook County.

According to the Law Bulletin account, O'Connell figures that it would take the reassignment of 50 judges to Cook County to bring about "caseload equity."

Meanwhile, a flyer from the SIU School of Law, announcing a symposium on rising prison populations ("From Coal Country to Con Country"), reports that the southern third of Illinois, with 8% of the state's population, now houses 31% (12,800) of our 41,000 prisoners.