Progress Illinois

That Democrats in Washington seem serious about reforming the rules in the U.S. Senate is a victory for supporters of "small-d" democracy.  It's also critically important for residents of Central Illinois, whose court system is not functioning properly because of Republican obstruction in the upper chamber.

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, which serves 46 counties and major cities like Peoria and Springfield, has only one active judge. Three seats, as the Wonk Room points out, remain vacant. Two of President Obama's nominees for that bench, James Shadid and Sue Myerscough, were unanimously approved by the Judiciary Committee. But thanks to Republicans' historic use of the filibuster threat, which requires the majority leader to overcome anonymous objections by filing a cloture motion and then waiting 30 hours to end debate, none have received an up-and-down vote on the Senate floor. Indeed, the Senate has only confirmed President Obama’s district and circuit court nominees at about half the rate of his two predecessors. There just wasn't enough time to break the logjam.

Among the changes they have in mind, some Democrats have hinted that they would like to distinguish judicial and executive branch confirmations from regular legislation in terms of how they can be blocked. A few Republicans might even cross the aisle and support such a reform. We will find out more when lawmakers reconvene next week.

Picking a governor and a set of lawmakers to represent us in the halls of Congress and the statehouse is the primary responsibility of voters on Election Day, but it's not the only choice we face. We've already run through the basics of a gubernatorial recall amendment, which may itself be unconstitutional. Citizens will also decide to elect (or retain) dozens of judges.

If you need help figuring out who is worthy of your support in Cook County, you'd be wise to check out Vote For Judges, a web project created by the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice that aggregates scorecards put out by various bar associations and the city's two major newspapers. The Chicago Reporter's Megan Cottrell highlights a few of the legal officials who don't have solid reputations across the region. (So did WBEZ' Sam Hudzik.) One looks especially problematic for progressive voters:

Susan J. McDunn - According to the Tribune, McDunn tried to sidetrack two adoptions by lesbian parents, using her personal beliefs as guidance, rather than the law. The Chicago Council of Lawyers says, "Many lawyers believe she has difficulty handling complex matters that come before her and that she demonstrates an inappropriate temperament." Again, all five groups did not recommend her.

The season's most intense retention battle is taking place just south of Chicago in Illinois' Third Supreme Court District, where Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride is fighting to keep his job. (We've previously written about the race here.) The Democrat has raised roughly $2.5 million in his bid, decidedly more than his major opponents. The outcome of the race will have an impact statewide, potentially during next year's redistricting process. Currently, Kilbride's party holds a 4-3 advantage on the court.

Prop 8, at least for the time being, is dead. In a powerful decision released yesterday, a federal judge in San Francisco struck down California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, arguing that it violated both the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution. While the case will eventually be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, the victory should embolden gay rights activists across the country, some of whom were justifiably worried that the U.S. legal system would validate similar discriminatory measures.

Like in the judiciary, support for gay rights is growing steadily in Illinois. While only about 42 percent support gay marriage outright, that figure has almost doubled since 1996, according to research from the Columbia University political science department. Among voters under 30, support soars to 63 percent. Nate Silver's model predicts that by 2012, a majority of Illinois residents would vote down a full gay marriage ban similar to the constitutional amendment introduced in February by GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady. And support for civil unions, which State Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) has been working feverishly to secure, is even higher. All the way back in 2005, a Northern Illinois University survey found that 65 percent of Illinoisans want to extend either full marriage or civil union rights to same-sex couples.

Speaking of Harris, he downplayed rumors this week that he was interested in Ald. Helen Shiller's (46th Ward) soon-to-be-vacant aldermanic seat. "One of the key reasons why I went to Springfield was to advance marriage equality in Illinois," he told the Illinois Observer on Tuesday, "and it remains undone."

Attorneys on the public dole in Illinois aren't going to pay off their student loans anytime soon. In April, The Southern reported that the state has been more than seven months behind on issuing payments to municipalities for its share of public defenders' salaries. Earlier this month, Gov. Pat Quinn proposed deeper cuts to those reimbursements, slicing 53 percent off the line item for public defenders and 61 percent for local state's attorneys. Unless municipalities find a way to pick up the slack using their own appropriations, attorneys are going to have to work without pay or find a new employer.

Illinois' legal aid safety net is already paper-thin. At what point does the state's budget crisis officially imperil the constitutional rights of Illinois defendants?

The Chicago News Cooperative's Daniel Libit has a nice profile this morning of Judge John Kirby, who initiated a "one-man reform campaign" to ease the glut of nonviolent drug cases in the Cook County court system and divert those offenders into drug treatment and educational programs:

His approach showed promise. A few offenders will receive high school diplomas through a Cook County Jail program this month. Local reformers applaud Mr. Kirby’s changes. And now, despite some contention between them, Thomas Dart, the Cook County sheriff, and Timothy C. Evans, chief judge of the county Circuit Court, are exploring ways of expanding the diversion process into other courtrooms.

One of those organizations working hard to increase alternatives to prison is the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice.  They're currently collecting data about various drug treatment facilities in the area to reassure judges that enough facilities exist to divert offenders. They've also authored a similar diversionary proposal for the Cook County felony court system. And it's worth mentioning that Ald. Toni Preckwinkle has talked at length about expanding electronic home monitoring and diversion programs to lower the county's prison population if she's elected board president this November.

Jon Burge may have tortured Chicago citizens, but he sure didn't commit perjury. That's the argument the former police commander's defense team is making in court this week. In his latest post at Vocalo, John Conroy -- who has covered the Chicago police torture scandal for two decades -- explains that Burge's lawyers are suggesting their client was not required by oath to tell the truth when he filed written responses to two separate lists of questions in a 2003 civil case. That's important because the trial is only concerned with charges of obstruction of justice and perjury, not the actual acts of torture he allegedly (and all but undoubtedly) committed.

Conroy sums up the frustrations of many when he writes that "it may be something of a small miracle that there is anything at all to indict Burge for." His recap also underscores how ridiculous it is that state law imposes a statute of limitations on crimes human rights organizations describe as torture. Hopefully, that's the lesson pols and the media will take away from these proceedings.

On Tuesday, we reported on efforts by a coalition of Chicago-based legal aid attorneys to boycott the American Bar Association's annual Equal Justice Conference, scheduled to kick off in Phoenix today. WBEZ followed up on the story and found that 265 lawyers canceled their registrations and joined the boycott in opposition to Arizona's discriminative new immigration law. That's roughly 35 percent of the participants.  As we noted, some of the attorneys have postponed their trips and will act as legal observers during a May 28 protest at the Arizona statehouse.