State Appellate Court Justices Judy Cates and David Overstreet expanded on those views with Law360, and also weighed in on the retiring Republican jurist's complex legacy, which has been clouded by long-running allegations that his influence could be bought, particularly when it came to the reversal of a $1 billion judgment against State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., which was accused of funneling millions into his election campaign.
Justice Cates, a Democrat, was elected to the state appellate court in 2012. She served as an assistant state's attorney for St. Clair County from 1977 to 1982, and then worked in private practice handling class action, personal injury and other complex litigation matters for the next 30 years before her appellate court election.
Justice Cates said she'd followed developments in the long-running State Farm case, whose original judgment came when she was still a practicing lawyer. After learning that Justice Karmeier had been elected to the state Supreme Court in 2004, while State Farm's judgment was pending, "it appeared to me that justice was for sale," she said.
"I have always believed that of his tenure," Justice Cates said, noting that learning of State Farm's $250 million settlement in a civil racketeering trial over that judgment's reversal only reinforced that belief.
Justice Cates told Law360 that she's running to not only remove that stigma from the court's Fifth District seat but to also bring change and increased transparency to the state high court. She said she believes the court "has aged and lost touch with people," but that her unique background and qualifications would make the bench stronger and more robust.
"You get comfortable doing things the same old way, and I think the Supreme Court has gotten into that rut," she said.
Justice Cates said she'd also like to bring a different approach to the Supreme Court's process for selecting judges to fill open seats in the lower courts. The state's top justices need only their fellow justices' approval to confirm someone they've appointed to the bench, but "I think we need to put stakeholders on committees to select the judge that's going to replace a retiring judge," Justice Cates said.
She blasted Justice Karmeier's appointment record as part of her reason for envisioning a different judicial selection process. Of the 45 judges Justice Karmeier appointed to the bench in the Fifth District during his tenure, "only six have been women and there has been no other diversity," she said.
"He has no diversity in his selection process of judges, and that needs to change," she said.
When Justice Cates campaigns for herself, she said she has no issue discussing cases she's helped decide or her general viewpoints on issues because voters are entitled to know about them, "and I don't think getting [an] endorsement is enough."
Justice Overstreet, however, told Law360 that he doesn't point to his appellate panel rulings because "that politicizes decisions," and that when he encounters voters, he tells them he'll be as fair and impartial on the state high court as he has been on the circuit and intermediate appellate benches.
"It's my job just to make the rulings the best I can and where the law leads me, so I'm not going to brag about this decision or that decision,'' he said. "I just don't think that's right."
Voters elected Justice Overstreet, a Republican, as an appellate judge in 2018 after he'd been assigned to serve on the bench a year earlier. He'd served as a judge in the state's Second Judicial Circuit from 2007 until his 2017 appellate appointment, handling cases that included half of Jefferson County's juvenile abuse and neglect docket.
As a practicing lawyer, he'd worked on asbestos cases for some time at a firm in Tennessee but otherwise maintained a more general private practice from 1991 until he was appointed to the circuit court bench.
Justice Overstreet said his law practice experience and his time serving as a trial judge would make the Supreme Court stronger. He also said his commitment to improving the judiciary can be seen through his service on several high court committees and groups, including the Illinois Judicial Conference, which worked to establish the court's first strategic agenda covering 2019-2022.
If elected, he said he would continue to promote that strategic agenda, which includes outlining the court's commitment to improving fairness, enhancing efficiencies and building confidence in the state courts.
Justice Overstreet said he also wants to continue promoting easier access to the courts, and that he'd like to continue exploring the use of technology for more remote court appearances — although the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly accelerated that initiative.
"With that experience and my knowledge and willingness to work hard to improve the judiciary, I feel like the time is right to lead our district court into the future," Justice Overstreet, 54, said. "I bring those experiences I've had at this relatively young age, and I believe I've got the energy and the passion to serve the public certainly for the next 10 years ... and perhaps beyond."
Justice Overstreet said his time on the trial bench is a major factor, because it's important for high court justices "to have been in the trenches" making decisions that impact people's lives.
But for Justice Cates, those "trenches" lie on the other side of the bench as well. She pointed to her experience as a lawyer who's gone through the trial process, including selecting a jury and hoping those peers will believe a client enough to side with him or her. Justice Overstreet, she said, "may have watched it from on top of the bench, but that's all he's ever done."
"And that doesn't give you experience," she said.
Justice Overstreet's views of Justice Karmeier also differ sharply from Justice Cates'.
He said Justice Karmeier "is the epitome of grace, fairness and impartiality," and that he has made "some outstanding appointments" to the circuit and appellate court benches. Justice Overstreet also said he thinks Justice Karmeier is "the role model for what we want in a judge and Supreme Court justice," and that Justice Cates' characterization of Justice Karmeier's tenure is a "nonsense" attempt to impugn his character.
"I completely disagree with her," he said.
Justice Karmeier will have logged 16 years on the high court upon his retirement. He served as a state trial court judge for 18 years before his 2004 election to the Supreme Court, for which he served as chief justice from 2016 to 2019. Voters retained Justice Karmeier for a second 10-year term in 2014, but he cut that term short when he announced plans to hang his robe in November.
Appellate lawyers told Law360 that Justice Karmeier earned a reputation of being a gifted legal writer who has respectfully dedicated his pen and his time to help shape law in Illinois.
John Fitzgerald, president of the Illinois Appellate Lawyers Association and partner at Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC, for example, said he'll be missed very much as a justice who "commanded respect on a very bipartisan basis for his scholarly and common-sense rulings."
But Justice Karmeier's term was not without controversy.
A class of policyholders had launched civil racketeering claims accusing State Farm of funneling millions into Justice Karmeier's 2004 campaign to secure his election and his vote to reverse the $1 billion judgment in 2005. State Farm settled the racketeering case for $250 million on the first day of trial, in which Justice Karmeier was set to testify.
Justices Cates and Overstreet may disagree on Justice Karmeier's legacy, but Illinois Bar Association President Dennis Orsey told Law360 that reviewing the candidates' qualifications and evaluations makes him confident voters will be choosing between two "honorable people" who "do their best to remain fair and impartial."
"The importance of judicial independence is paramount in our society and our legal system," Orsey said. "We want them to apply the facts to the law and give us an honest ruling, but I think part of it is understanding who these people are and what they bring to the bench."
--Editing by Orlando Lorenzo.
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