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Charles Freeman
Charles E. Freeman was a justice on the Illinois Supreme Court from the first judicial district of Illinois. He was elected to his position on the court on November 6, 1990. He was the first African-American justice on the court. He served as chief justice from May 12, 1997, to January 1, 2000. Freeman became the senior member of the Illinois Supreme Court after winning retention in November of 2002.[1] He was last retained in 2010 for a term that would have expired on December 6, 2020.[2] He retired from the court on June 14, 2018.[3] Freeman died on March 2, 2020.[4]
Education
Freeman graduated from Virginia Union University in 1954 and earned his J.D. in 1962 from the John Marshall Law School (Chicago).[5]
Career
- 1990-2018: Justice, Illinois Supreme Court
- 1986-1990: Judge, Illinois Appellate Court
- 1976-1986: Judge, Cook County Circuit Court
- 1973-1976: Illinois Commerce Commission
- 1965-1973: Illinois Industrial Commission
- 1962-1965: Attorney in private practice[5]
Awards and associations
Associations
- DuPage County Bar Association
- Illinois Judicial Council
- Illinois Judges Association
- American Judges Association
- American Judicature Society[5]
Elections
2010
- See also: Illinois judicial elections, 2010
Charles Freeman was retained with 78.31 percent of the vote to a new term on the Illinois Supreme Court.[2][6]
Endorsements
The Chicago Sun Times endorsed Freeman for another term.[7]
Freeman was recommended for retention by the Judicial Performance Commission of Cook County.[8]
Political outlook
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Freeman received a campaign finance score of -0.9, indicating a liberal ideological leaning. This was more liberal than the average score of -0.31 that justices received in Illinois.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[9]
See also
External links
- Illinois Supreme Court, "Charles E. Freeman, Supreme Court Justice"
- Historymakers.com, "The Honorable Charles E. Freeman"
Footnotes
- ↑ Historymakers.com, "The Honorable Charles E. Freeman"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Illinois State Board of Elections, "2010 General Election Results"
- ↑ Chicago Sun-Times, "Only African-American lawyer to serve on Illinois Supreme Court is retiring," May 17, 2018
- ↑ NBC 5, "Charles Freeman, 1st African American on Illinois Supreme Court, Dies at 86," March 3, 2020
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Illinois Supreme Court, "Charles E. Freeman, Supreme Court Justice," accessed August 11, 2014
- ↑ FOX Chicago News, "Supreme Court Election Results"
- ↑ Chicago Sun Times "Vote 'Yes' for Kilbride; 'No' for 3 other judges," October 20, 2010
- ↑ Judicial Performance Commission of Cook County, "Report on the Judges Seeking Retention on the November 2, 2010 Ballot in Cook County," archived January 30, 2012
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
