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Michael Burke (Illinois judge)
Michael J. Burke (Republican Party) was a judge for the 2nd District of the Illinois Supreme Court. He assumed office on March 1, 2020. He left office on December 5, 2022.
Burke (Republican Party) ran for re-election for the 3rd District judge of the Illinois Supreme Court. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Burke became a member of the court by appointment. On February 10, 2020, Illinois Supreme Court Associate Justice Robert Thomas announced that he would retire from the court effective February 29, 2020. Because the vacancy was set to occur less than 60 days before the next primary election, Thomas' replacement was selected by the Illinois Supreme Court in a vote of the justices. To learn more about this appointment, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[1] Burke received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[2] Click here to read more about this study.
Burke served on the Illinois Second District Appellate Court from 2008 to 2020.[3]
Biography
Michael Burke was born in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from St. Laurence High School. Burke earned a B.S. from Northern Illinois University, magna cum laude, in 1980 and a J.D. from The John Marshall Law School in 1984.[3]
Burke's career experience includes working as an assistant state's attorney in DuPage County. He was appointed to the Illinois Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Court in 1992. In 2001, he was appointed as a circuit judge, to which position he was elected in 2002 and retained in 2008. He was assigned to the Appellate Court in 2008, to which he was elected in 2014. From 2012 to 2014, Burke served as presiding justice of the Illinois Second District Appellate Court. He was appointed to the state supreme court in 2020.
Burke previously served as director of the Illinois Judges Foundation and chair of the Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee. He was also a faculty member of the Judicial Education Conference and the New Judge Seminar.[3]
Appointments
Illinois Supreme Court Associate Justice Robert Thomas retired on February 29, 2020. Thomas announced plans to join law firm Powers Rogers following his retirement.[4][5]
As of February 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court was responsible for appointing an interim judge in the event of a midterm vacancy under Illinois law. The interim judge served until the next primary election occurring at least 60 days after their appointment, at which point the judge had to run in a partisan election to remain on the court.[6] Because the vacancy was set to occur less than 60 days before the next judicial election, Thomas' replacement was selected by the Illinois Supreme Court in a vote of the justices. The court appointed appellate Justice Michael J. Burke to serve from March 1, 2020, to December 5, 2022.[5]
Elections
2022
See also: Illinois Supreme Court elections, 2022
General election
General election for Illinois Supreme Court 3rd District
Mary Kay O'Brien defeated incumbent Michael J. Burke in the general election for Illinois Supreme Court 3rd District on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Mary Kay O'Brien (D) | 51.1 | 349,164 |
 | Michael J. Burke (R) | 48.9 | 333,669 | |
| Total votes: 682,833 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Illinois Supreme Court 3rd District
Mary Kay O'Brien advanced from the Democratic primary for Illinois Supreme Court 3rd District on June 28, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mary Kay O'Brien | 100.0 | 110,882 |
| Total votes: 110,882 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Illinois Supreme Court 3rd District
Incumbent Michael J. Burke advanced from the Republican primary for Illinois Supreme Court 3rd District on June 28, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Michael J. Burke | 100.0 | 122,598 |
| Total votes: 122,598 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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2014
See also: Illinois judicial elections, 2014
Burke ran for election to the Illinois Second District Appellate Court.
Primary: He ran unopposed in the Republican primary on March 18, 2014.
General: He was unopposed in the general election on November 4, 2014.[7]
Evaluations
The Illinois State Bar Association rated Burke as Recommended for election in a 2014 poll.[8]
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Michael J. Burke did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[9]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[10]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Michael
Burke
Illinois
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Republican
- Donated over $2,000 to Republican candidates
- State was a Democratic trifecta at time of appointment
Partisan Profile
Details:
Burke was a registered Republican as of 2020. He donated $25,000 to Republican candidates and organizations. At the time of his election, Illinois was a Democratic trifecta.
State supreme court judicial selection in llinois
- See also: Judicial selection in Illinois
The seven justices of the Illinois Supreme Court are chosen by popular vote in partisan elections and serve 10-year terms, after which they must compete in uncontested, nonpartisan retention elections to remain on the court.[11]
Supreme court justices in Illinois are elected to represent specific districts. The seven justices are divided among five districts (three allocated to Cook County and the others divided evenly among the other four districts) and are voted into office by the residents of their respective regions.[11]
Qualifications
To serve on the supreme court, a judge must be:
Chief justice
The chief justice of the supreme court is chosen by peer vote to serve a three-year term.[11]
Vacancies
In the event of a midterm vacancy, the Illinois Supreme Court is responsible for appointing an interim justice. If a justice is appointed more than 60 days before the next primary election, the justice must run in a partisan election in the next general or judicial election to remain on the court. The appointed justice's term will end on the first Monday in December after their election. If a justice is appointed less than 60 days before the next primary election, the justice will have to run in a partisan election to remain on the court in the second general election. The appointed justice's term will end on the first Monday in December after their election[11]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Illinois Courts, "Michael J. Burke," accessed July 8, 2021
- ↑ Supreme Court of Illinois, "Justice Robert R. Thomas announces retirement from Illinois Supreme Court," February 10, 2020
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The State Journal-Register, "State Supreme Court Justice Thomas to retire," February 10, 2020
- ↑ American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Illinois," archived October 2, 2014
- ↑ DuPage County Illinois, "Election Results Reporting," accessed July 8, 2021
- ↑ Illinois State Bar Association, "Judicial Evaluations," October 2014
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection," accessed September 8, 2021
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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
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