Is the Fix In?

BREAKING: Illinois Supreme Court to hear Rahm Emanuel's appeal.

Yesterday, the Illinois Appellate Court ruled that Emanuel could not be on the mayoral ballot in Chicago because he did not meet the requirement of actually living in Chicago for the last year.

Emanuel has claimed that despite serving as White House chief of staff in Washington D.C. he never gave up his Chicago "residency"

Members of the Illinois Supreme Court are (along with their bios):
•Thomas L. Kilbride, Chief Justice

Thomas L. Kilbride was born in LaSalle. He received a B.A. degree magna cum laude from St. Mary's College in Winona, Minnesota in 1978 and received his law degree from Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C., in 1981.

Justice Kilbride practiced law for 20 years in Rock Island, engaging in the general practice of law, including appeals, environmental law, labor law, employment matters, and other general civil and criminal matters. He was admitted to practice in the United States District Court of Central Illinois and the United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. He was elected to the Supreme Court of Illinois for the Third District in 2000 and was elected as Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court in October, 2010.

Justice Kilbride is a past board member, past president and past vice-president of the Illinois Township Attorneys Association, a past volunteer lawyer and charter member of the Illinois Pro Bono Center, and a member of the Illinois State Bar and Rock Island County Bar Associations. He has served as volunteer legal advisor for the Community Caring Conference, the charter chairman of the Quad Cities Interfaith Sponsoring committee, volunteer legal advisor to Quad City Harvest, Inc., and a past member of the Rock Island Human Relations Commission.

•Charles E. Freeman

Charles E. Freeman is a resident of the City of Chicago. He was graduated from Virginia Union University in Richmond, VA, with a B.A. degree in liberal arts in June 1954. He received his J.D. degree from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago in February 1962.

Early in his professional career, Justice Freeman served as an assistant attorney general, an assistant state's attorney and an attorney for the Board of Election Commissioners.

He was appointed as an arbitrator to the Illinois Industrial Commission in January 1965 and served in that capacity until September 1973. From September 1973 until December 1976, he served as a commissioner on the Illinois Commerce Commission, having been appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate.

Justice Freeman engaged in the general practice of law from 1962 to September 1976 when he was elected to the Circuit Court. He served 10 years on the Cook County Circuit Court, winning two elections in the process. While a Circuit Court Judge, Freeman became the first African-American to swear in a Mayor of the City of Chicago, his good friend, Harold Washington. He was elected to the Appellate Court in 1986.

Justice Freeman is a member of the Cook County, Illinois State and DuPage County Bar Associations, the Illinois Judicial Council, the Illinois and American Judges' Associations and the American Judicature Society. He has received numerous awards throughout his career.
He was elected to the Illinois Supreme Court on Nov. 6, 1990, as the first African-American to serve on the Court. On May 12, 1997, he was selected as Chief Justice and served in that capacity until January 1, 2000.

•Robert R. Thomas

Robert R. Thomas was born on August 7, 1952, in Rochester, NY. He received his B.A. degree in Government from the University of Notre Dame in 1974, and was named an Academic All-American in that same year. He received his J.D. degree from Loyola University School of Law in 1981. He was elected Circuit Court Judge in DuPage County in 1988. There, he presided over civil jury trials and was the Acting Chief Judge from 1989 to 1994. In 1994, Judge Thomas was elected to the Appellate Court Second District. On December 4, 2000, Justice Thomas was sworn in as the Illinois Supreme Court Justice for the Second District. Justice Thomas was elected to serve as Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice on September 6, 2005, and served as the Chief Justice until September 5, 2008. In April 1996, Justice Thomas was inducted into the Academic All-American Hall of Fame, and in January 1999, he received the prestigious NCAA Silver Anniversary Award. Justice Thomas is a member of the DuPage County Bar Association

•Rita B. Garman

Rita B. Garman was born in Aurora. She was valedictorian of Oswego High School in 1961. She received her B.S. degree in economics with highest honors from the University of Illinois in 1965, Bronze Tablet, and her J.D. degree with distinction from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1968. She was Assistant State's Attorney in Vermilion County (1969-73), was engaged in private practice with Sebat, Swanson, Banks, Lessen & Garman (1973), and was an Associate Circuit Judge for 12 years. She was a Circuit Judge in the Fifth Judicial Circuit (1986-95) and Presiding Circuit Judge (1987-95). She was assigned to the Appellate Court, Fourth District, in July 1995, and was elected to the position in November 1996. Justice Garman was appointed to the Supreme Court on February 1, 2001, and elected to the Court on November 5, 2002. She is a member of the Vermilion County, Illinois State and Iowa Bar Associations, and the Illinois Judges' Association.

•Lloyd A. Karmeier

Lloyd A. Karmeier was born January 12, 1940, in rural Washington County, where he attended a one-room grade school and graduated as valedictorian in 1958 from Okawville Community High School. He received his B.S. degree in 1962 and his J.D. degree in 1964, both from the University of Illinois.

Justice Karmeier clerked for former Illinois Supreme Court Justice Byron O. House from 1964 to 1968, served as state’s attorney of Washington County from 1968 to 1972, and clerked for former U.S. District Court Judge James L. Foreman from 1972 to 1973. He was engaged in the general practice of law with the firm of Hohlt, House, DeMoss & Johnson from 1964 to 1986. He was resident Circuit Judge of Washington County from 1986 to 2004, when he was elected to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Justice Karmeier is a member of the Illinois Judges' Association, the Washington County, St. Clair County, East St. Louis and Illinois State Bar Associations, and past member of the American Bar Association and the American Judicature Society. He served as a member of the Assembly of the Illinois State Bar Association from 1996 to 2002, and as chair of the Bench and Bar Section Council. He also served on the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases, chairing the committee from 2003 to 2004. He is a member of the Southern Illinois American Inn of Court and served as President of the Executive Committee from 2003 to 2007.

Justice Karmeier and his wife, Mary, reside in Nashville, Illinois. They have two children and six grandchildren.

.Anne M. Burke

Anne M. Burke was born on Feb. 3, 1944, in Chicago. She received her B.A. degree in education from DePaul University in 1976 and her J.D. degree from IIT/Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1983. She was admitted to the Federal Court, Northern District of Illinois, in 1983, the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in 1985, and certified for the Trial Bar, Federal District Court in 1987. In that same year, Governor James Thompson appointed her Judge to the Court of Claims and, in 1991, she was reappointed by Governor Jim Edgar. In April 1994, she was appointed special counsel to the Governor for Child Welfare Services. In August 1995, she was appointed to the Appellate Court, First District. In 1996, she was elected to the Appellate Court, First District, for a full term. She is married to Alderman Edward M. Burke, and they are the parents of five children, Jennifer (Jim Murphy), Edward (Jackie), the late Emmett, Sarah, and Travis, as well as five grandchildren.

•Mary Jane Theis

Mary Jane Theis was born on February 27, 1949, in Chicago. She received her bachelor’s degree from Loyola University Chicago in 1971 and her law degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 1974. From 1974-83, she was an Assistant Public Defender in Cook County, before she was appointed an Associate Judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County, where she served for five years. In 1988, Justice Theis was elected to the Circuit Court, where she was assigned to both the Criminal and Chancery Divisions until 1993, when she was appointed to the Appellate Court, First District. She was elected to the Appellate Court in 1994.

In her 17 years on the Appellate Court, Justice Theis served as a Presiding Judge. She was Committee Chair of both the Committee on Education and the Committee on Judicial Conduct of the Illinois Judicial Conference, and a member of the Supreme Court Rules Committee. Justice Theis had been President of the Appellate Lawyers Association and the Illinois Judges Association, as well as President and founding member of the Illinois Judges Foundation. She has been a member of the Board of Governors of the Illinois State Bar Association and the Board of Managers of the Chicago Bar Association and is a member of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois.

Justice Theis has taught at conferences and seminars for the ISBA and CBA, and at Loyola University School of Law, Northwestern University School of Law, and the John Marshall Law School. She has received various awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illinois Judges Association, Catholic Lawyer of the Year from the Catholic Lawyers Guild, Celtic Lawyer of the Year from the Celtic Lawyers Society of Chicago, the Mary Heftel Hooten Award from the WBAI, and the Access to Justice Award from the ISBA.

She is married to John T. Theis, and they have two children, Jack (Uma Amuluru) and Claire (Joshua) Merok, and two grandchildren