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Rita Garman
Rita Garman (Republican Party) was a judge for the 4th Division of the Illinois Supreme Court. She assumed office in 2001. She left office on July 7, 2022.
Garman retired on July 7, 2022.[1] To learn more about this retirement, click here.
Garman first became a member of the court by appointment. The Illinois Supreme Court appointed her to replace retiring Justice Ben Miller in 2001.[2] She was then elected to the court in 2002 and retained in 2012.[3] To read more about judicial selection in Illinois, 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.[4] Garman received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[5] Click here to read more about this study.
Garman's three-year term as chief justice began on October 26, 2013, when she was elected by her fellow justices to fill the vacancy left by the retiring Thomas L. Kilbride. Her term as chief justice ended on October 25, 2016.[6]
Garman is the longest-serving female judge in Illinois and the second woman in Illinois to be chief justice.[6]
Biography
Garman was born in Aurora, Illinois. She received her B.S. in economics from the University of Illinois in 1965 and her J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1968.[3]
Garman was an assistant state's attorney in Vermilion County from 1969 to 1973. She was then an associate circuit judge from 1974 to 1986. She joined the Fifth Judicial Circuit Court in 1986 and was presiding circuit judge from 1987 until 1995, when she was assigned to the Illinois Fourth District Appellate Court. The following year, Garman won election to the court. Garman was then appointed to the state supreme court in 2001. She served as chief justice from 2013 to 2016.[3]
Elections
2012
- See also: Illinois judicial elections, 2012
Garman was retained in the 2012 election.
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.[7]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[8]
- 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.
Rita
Garman
Illinois
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Republican as of 2020
- Donated over $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Received donations from Republican-affiliated individuals or organizations
Partisan Profile
Details:
Garman was a registered Republican as of 2020. She donated $185,458 to Republican candidates and organizations. Garman received $50,000 from the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Other Scores:
In a 2012 study of campaign contributions, Garman received a campaign finance score of 0.44, indicating a conservative ideological leaning.
Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)
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.
Garman received a campaign finance score of 0.44, 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.[9]
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.[10]
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.[10]
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.[10]
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[10]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 25 News Now, "Illinois’ longest-serving judge to retire from state’s highest court," accessed July 7, 2022
- ↑ Illinois State Bar Association, "Profiles: Justice Rita B. Garman," accessed July 8, 2021
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Illinois Courts, "Rita B. Garman," accessed July 8, 2021
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Illinois State Bar Association, "Justice Rita B. Garman Elected as Next Supreme Court Chief Justice," September 12, 2013
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection," accessed September 8, 2021
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
