Mary
Ann McMorrow, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court of
Illinois, announced her retirement Wednesday and startled some
legal observers by announcing that she and her colleagues have
voted to replace her with state Appellate Justice Anne Burke.
Burke
is the wife of Chicago City Council Finance Chairman Ald. Edward
Burke (14th). She recently earned a national reputation that arguably
outstripped her husband's as interim chairman of the National
Review Board, a lay organization appointed by the U.S. Catholic
bishops to oversee their handling of priest sex-abuse cases.
McMorrow
-- a trailblazer who was the only woman in her class at Loyola
University School of Law in 1953 -- pushed open doors for women
in the law, prosecuting felony cases, running for judge with and
without party backing, and becoming chief justice of the state
Supreme Court.
"I
thought it was important to have a women to replace me," McMorrow
said.
A
clear path for Burke
She
and her six fellow Supreme Court justices unanimously approved
Burke, who will take office July 6 and serve 2-1/2 years. Burke
will have to run in the 2008 election to win the seat permanently.
Praise
flowed for both McMorrow and Burke from bar associations, fellow
justices and even good government groups, though some of those
civic groups -- as they did 10 years ago -- questioned the manner
in which Burke took office.
Burke's
husband chairs the Democratic Party's subcommittee on slating
candidates for judge. He was widely credited with orchestrating
a clear path for his wife to win a seat on the appellate court
unopposed.
In
1996, Michael Casey and Michael McCafferty filed to run for appellate
court against Anne Burke, giving her race the appearance of a
crowded field. Would-be competitors migrated to other races. After
the filing deadline, Casey and McCafferty pulled out, allowing
Burke to win by default.
Casey
and McCafferty were partners in the law firm of former Ald. Edward
Vrdolyak, a friend of the Burkes.
This
time around, the Chicago Council of Lawyers said Wednesday they
were concerned with the surprise nature of Burke's appointment
before those who may have wanted to apply even knew there was
an opening.
Lawyers
council disapproves
"The
Chicago Council of Lawyers would have strongly preferred a more
open selection process for such an important interim appointment,"
said council president Carrie Huff. "Potential interim appointments
to the Supreme Court should be subjected to public scrutiny and
comment before the appointment is made, not after."
Ten
years ago, the council found Burke "not qualified" because it
said she had insufficient experience. But every other bar group
rated her well, and the Illinois State Bar Association found her
"exceptionally well-qualified."
McMorrow
got to know Burke when Burke volunteered for McMorrow's first
unsuccessful campaign for Supreme Court in 1990. Two years after
being elected to the high court in 1992, McMorrow appointed Burke
to the appellate court. Burke had to run for the seat in 1996.
"Justice
Burke is a very personable, able jurist and I'm certain she is
going to do well on the court," said Cindi Canary, executive director
of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. "I guess we would
ultimately like to see a kind of open and standardized process
for the appointment of judges."
Copyright
© 2006, The
Sun-Times Company