Selected Accomplishments
2000 - 2004

March 2000
The Council releases the report, Due Process and the Death Penalty in Illinois. The report, done with the research assistance of the Chicago Appleseed Fund For Justice, studied 159 published appeals from Illinois death sentences.

The Council and Chicago Appleseed sponsored a roundtable discussion on the death penalty in Illinois. The Honorable Thomas Fitzgerald, who served as the chair of the Special Supreme Court Committee on Capital cases, spoke about death penalty reform in Illinois. First Assistant State's Attorney David Erickson discussed the issues from the prosecutor's point of view. David Bradford, senior partner at Jenner & Block and general counsel to the MacArthur Justice Center spoke about the need for reform.

The Council files a disciplinary complaint against Illinois Supreme Court candidate, Morton Zwick, for Canon 67 violations involving misleading television advertisements.

August 2000
The Council asks the Illinois Supreme Court Rules Committee to adopt rules changing the way the Court fills judicial vacancies. The proposed rules would have established Judicial Nominating Commissions. While the proposed rules were rejected by the Court, Supreme Court Justices Fitzgerald and McMorrow subsequently established their own commissions to review candidates seeking to fill judicial vacancies.

September 2001
Council releases the fourth edition of A Directory of State and Federal Judges in Chicago. The 371-page book includes biographical information and the Council's judicial evaluations of state court judges conducted between 1986 and 2000. The results of the Council's evaluations of sitting federal district judges are included.

December 2001
Council sponsors forum on "Government's Response to Terrorism." Scheduled speakers include Susan Compernolle, James Fenerty, Harvey Grossman, Kalman Resnick, and David Thomas.

Council and Chicago Appleseed release their 2002 edition of the Legal Services Directory of Free and Low Cost Legal Services in the Chicago area.

Council becomes part of a coalition of Chicago-area legal organizations assembled by the ACLU of Illinois to offer free legal services for all persons in the Chicago area designated for questioning by the U.S. Department of Justice (a nationwide anti-terrorism campaign to locate and interview as many as 5,000 persons who entered the U.S. on non-immigrant visas).

February 2002
Council releases its evaluations of judicial candidates on the March 2002 ballot.

October 2002
Council releases its judicial evaluation results for judges seeking retention.

November 2002
The Council and Chicago Appleseed release the results of a research study examining the Illinois child support system. The effort involves hundreds of interviews and legal representation of 50 parents having problems with the child support system. The report offers 83 recommendations aimed at producing a unified services model of child support collection and enforcement.

The Council and Chicago Appleseed release the fifth edition of the Tenant-Landlord Handbook

January 2003
Illinois legislation incorporating the Chicago Appleseed/Chicago Council model child support system becomes law.

March 2003
Council and the Chicago chapter of the National Lawyers Guild sponsor a forum, INS Special Registration, Secret Hearings & Indefinite Detentions: What's Next?

Council for a second time mobilizes volunteer lawyers to offer free legal services for individuals targeted for FBI interviews.

May 2003
Chicago Appleseed and the Council release report on The Chicago Appleseed Fund For Justice today releases its report based on a comprehensive research project on judicial elections in Cook County. The purpose of the Judicial Election Reform Project is to better understand what it takes to win judicial elections in Cook County. The Project, funded by the Joyce Foundation and the Stern Family Fund, is a joint effort of the Chicago Appleseed Fund For Justice and the Chicago Council of Lawyers. A quantitative analysis of the candidacies of over 1,000 judicial candidates identified factors that lead to election victories and personal interviews identified how these factors work within the political world of Cook County judicial elections.

Political scientists analyzed over 30,000 pieces of information about judicial elections and we conducted interviews with more than 40 bar leaders, unsuccessful judicial candidates, judges, members of the media who cover judicial election stories, and lawyers with expertise in election law.

October 2003
The Council joins other public interest organizations in asking United States Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald to undertake a comprehensive investigation of the beatings of inmates in the Cook County jail.

February 2004
Council president Locke Bowman proposes a state-funded Judicial Performance Commission to conduct comprehensive evaluations of every sitting judge up for retention. Such a Commission would be willing and able to recommend removal of those judges who lack the skills or temperament for the position.

Council and the Cook County Bar Association oppose the use of subpoena power against the National Lawyers Guild in Iowa. The opposition was targeted against a federal grand jury subpoena seeking the identity of persons attending an anti-war conference at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

February 2004
Council releases its evaluation results for those running on the March 2004 ballot to fill judicial vacancies.

March 2004
Council sponsors a forum, The Future of Protest in Chicago. Speakers included Lawrence Rosenthal, then Deputy Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago, Adam Schwartz of the ACLU of Illinois, and Professor Geoffrey Stone of the University of Chicago Law School.

Chicago Appleseed, as part of a nationwide collaborative project on financial education, submits comments in response to proposed changes to the Community Reinvestment Act.

April 2004
Council president, Locke Bowman, speaks on behalf of Chicago-area organizations to express opposition to President Bush's alleged right to create a "law free zone" at the Guantanamo detention center in Cuba.

July 2004
Chicago Appleseed, as part of a nationwide collaborative project on financial education, submits comments on proposed rule changes affecting individual development accounts.

Council and Chicago Appleseed release the 2004 edition of the Legal Services Directory of free and low cost legal services in the Chicago area.

Council releases the fifth edition of the Directory of State Judges in Chicago, including judicial evaluations conducted by the Council through 2002.

October 2004
Chicago Appleseed initiates the www.voteforjudges.org campaign, a voter education effort featuring non-partisan judicial evaluation information through a website, brochures, speakers' bureau, and media coverage. The website alone attracts one million hits and provides 100,000 downloaded pages.

Council released its judicial evaluations for judges seeking retention.