Lloyd Karmeier
Lloyd Karmeier (Republican Party) was a judge for the 5th District of the Illinois Supreme Court. He assumed office on December 6, 2004. He left office on December 6, 2020.
Karmeier retired December 6, 2020.[1]
Justice Karmeier was elected by his peers in September 2016 to succeed Rita Garman as chief justice of the court.[2] His term as chief began on October 26, 2016, and ended on October 25, 2019.[3]
Education
Karmeier received his B.S. in 1962 from the University of Illinois and his J.D. in 1964 from the University of Illinois College of Law.[4][5]
Career
- 2004-2020: Justice, Illinois Supreme Court
- 2016-2019: Chief justice
- Supreme Court liaison officer, Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission
- Supreme Court liaison officer, Minimum Continuing Legal Education Board
- Supreme Court liaison officer, Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases
- 1986-2004: Judge, Illinois Twentieth Judicial Circuit Court
- 1972-1973: Law clerk for Judge James Foreman of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
- 1968-1972: State's attorney, Washington County
- 1964-1968: Law clerk for Illinois Supreme Court Justice Byron House
- 1964-1986 Attorney, Hohlt, House, DeMoss & Johnson[6]
Publications
- Illinois Bar Journal, "What's the Measure of Judicial Excellence," October 2002.
Awards and associations
Awards
- 2010: Harold Sullivan Award for Judicial Excellence, Illinois Judges Association[7]
- 2006: Citizen of the Year, Nashville, Illinois
Associations
- 2013: Chairperson, Illinois Courts Commission
- 2003-2007: Executive Committee, American Inn of Court
- 1996-2002: Chair, Bench and Bar Section Council
- 1996-2002: Member, Illinois State Bar Association Assembly
- Member, Southern Illinois American Inn of Court
- Member, Washington County Bar Association
- Member, East St. Louis Bar Association[5][6]
Elections
2014
- See also: Illinois judicial elections, 2014
Karmeier was retained to the Supreme Court with 60.8% of the vote on November 4, 2014.[8]
Evaluations
The Illinois State Bar Association rated Karmeier as recommended for retention in 2014.[9]
Campaign ad opposing Karmeier
A television ad opposing Karmeier was aired by political action group "Campaign for 2016." The ad urged voters to remove Karmeier from the bench.[10] The ad accused him of ruling in favor of big business after receiving $4 million from pro-business interests during his 2004 campaign. The ad ended with the phrase "Our justice is not for sale." In response, the Republican State Leadership Committee, a national PAC, began campaigning in support of Karmeier. Their ad stated that Karmeier stood against "Chicago trial lawyers who have tried to buy the courts." By October 29, the Republican State Leadership Committee had contributed $950,000 in support of Karmeier.[11]
2004
Karmeier was elected in 2004 to the 5th district, which includes the counties of Madison and St. Clair.[5]
The election itself reportedly became the most expensive state supreme court race in the country. Karmeier said he believed he won the district because voters perceived him as the most qualified candidate, and that the perception of Madison County courts as financed by trial attorneys and the number of doctors leaving the area played a role.[12]
Noteworthy events
Request for investigation
In February 2006, three organizations ("Common Cause," "Citizen Action Illinois" and "Business and Professional People for the Public Interest") called for the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board to investigate whether or not Karmeier should have recused himself from cases involving State Farm Insurance and Philip Morris.[13] The board "considered the allegations raised and determined that the Complaint should be closed without further action."[14]
Update February 2015: On February 27, 2015, Judge David R. Herndon of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois ordered Karmeier to provide testimony in an election fraud case against State Farm Insurance. The suit, filed in 2012, accused State Farm of hiding its involvement with Karmeier’s election to the court. Prior to the election, Karmeier’s opponent, appellate court judge Gordon Maag, upheld a $1.05 billion verdict against State Farm for a suit which alleged that insurance company had supplied inferior car parts for crash repair.[15] After his election win, Karmeier refused to recuse himself and then cast the deciding fourth vote that helped overturn the verdict.[16][17] The suit alleged that State Farm conspired to have Karmeier elected to the Illinois Supreme Court by spending $4 million on Karmeier's campaign, and then concealed its involvement in his campaign while the case was before the high court. In the suit, plaintiff attorneys requested sworn testimony from Karmeier regarding his communications with his campaign supporters, as well as his "recruitment and selection as an Illinois Supreme Court candidate, his campaign and fundraising activities."[17]
Herndon's ruling stated that Karmeier's testimony was the only way to "explore the facts and for the public, in the face of such allegations, to learn the truth," and that attorneys may question Karmeier "as to his knowledge concerning all aspects of his campaign, including his decision-making process for running in the first place and the persons with whom he consulted to make that decision, how the campaign was managed, how the campaign was financed, who was involved in the decision-making and strategy of the campaign."[17]
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.
Karmeier received a campaign finance score of 0.34, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was more conservative 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.[18]
Recent news
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See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Illinois State Bar Association, "Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier Announces Retirement," accessed November 5, 2019
- ↑ Benton Evening News, "Southern Illinois justice named state Supreme Court chief," September 19, 2016
- ↑ The State Journal-Register, "Justice Karmeier to resign effective December 2020," November 1, 2019
- ↑ Herald&Review, "Karmeier now Illinois chief judge," November 1, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Illinois Courts, "Supreme Court, Lloyd A. Karmeier," accessed March 18, 2015
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Updated information sent via email on October 14, 2014
- ↑ Illinois State Bar Association, "Illinois Supreme Court Justices to receive awards at Midyear Meeting," November 30, 2010
- ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections, "List of judges seeking retention in the November 4, 2014 general election," accessed May 8, 2014
- ↑ Illinois State Bar Association, "Judicial Evaluations," October 2014
- ↑ Chicago Tribune, "Outside money pouring into state Supreme Court race," October 29, 2014
- ↑ St. Louis Public Radio, "Supreme Tort: The Campaign To Fire Justice Lloyd Karmeier," February 2, 2015
- ↑ Madison Record, "Karmeier win bellows resounding message," November 5, 2004
- ↑ CBS Local Broadcasting, "Groups Want IL Supreme Court Justice Investigated," February 7, 2006
- ↑ Philip Morris USA, Inc. v. Appellate Court, Fifth District, No. 117689
- ↑ The Madison-St. Clair Record, "Herndon allows deposition of Justice Karmeier in $8 billion State Farm case," March 4, 2015
- ↑ Chicago Business.com, "State supreme court justice to testify in election fraud case," February 27, 2015
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 BND.com, "'Extraordinarily unusual': Karmeier ordered to give testimony in lawsuit," February 27, 2015
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
Federal courts:
Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Central District of Illinois, Northern District of Illinois, Southern District of Illinois • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Central District of Illinois, Northern District of Illinois, Southern District of Illinois
State courts:
Illinois Supreme Court • Illinois Appellate Court • Illinois Circuit Court
State resources:
Courts in Illinois • Illinois judicial elections • Judicial selection in Illinois
