Cook County judicial elections stir up unusual public scrutiny

Twenty-eight years. That's how long it's been since the last time a Cook County judge was voted out of office. This election year, as on every even year when we hit the polls to pick a president or governor, Cook County voters are also asked to vote on 39 candidates trying to join the judiciary for the first time and vote "yes" or "no" to keep another 61 judges already on the bench.

Judicial elections have traditionally garnered little public interest or scrutiny—even though, of all the elected officials on any ballot, it's the judges we're all most likely to come in contact with. You could be the victim of a crime or be accused of one. You could need a divorce. You could wind up in eviction court. You could need to settle an inheritance dispute. Most of these legal issues will require judges. After a nearly three-decade hiatus, Cook County voters seem poised to remind at least a couple of them—Matthew Coghlan and Maura Slattery Boyle, both 18-year veterans of the bench—that their jobs aren't guaranteed for life.

First, a little background: the Circuit Court of Cook County is the largest unified court system in the country. Every year, in 16 courthouses around the county, 400 judges preside over hundreds of thousands of criminal and civil cases—from murder trials to medical malpractice lawsuits to traffic ticket contestations.

Two-thirds of these judges are elected, either to "countywide" seats (for which voters from all of Cook County get to cast a vote) or to "subcircuit" seats (for which only voters in a particular area of the county get to vote—think of these as wards or congressional districts, but for judges only). The other third of the judges are appointed by the elected judges, and it's a competitive process. Hundreds of attorneys who've been practicing law for at least six years apply for a handful of appointment slots that become available every other year. A nominating committee of the circuit court's presiding judges (the head judges of every division) pick two candidates for each slot after evaluating their credentials and reviews by various bar associations. The finalists are chosen through a vote by the elected judiciary. These appointed judges—known as associate judges—serve four-year terms and then have to survive a retention vote cast by their colleagues to stay on the bench.

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