Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization 2016 CIRCUIT COURT QUESTIONNAIRE Part I: Instructions and Candidate Details

Transcription

1 Instructions: From within your Word processor, please answer all questions in Part I (Instructions and Candidate Details) and Part II (Issue Questions). In the Essay section, please answer the questions at the length you deem sufficient. It is OK if your comments cause tables, etc., to shift pages. We are aware that Canon 67 of the Illinois Canons of Judicial Ethics purports to restrict your ability to appear to commit yourself to a position that you may later have to rule on. We are also aware that Republican Party of Minnesota v. White, 536 U.S. 765 (2002), struck down a similar, if not identical, canon in Minnesota as a violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. In an effort to accommodate any conflict you may still feel between Illinois Canon 67 and the White case, we hereby acknowledge that any answer you give to any of our questions does not commit you to rule in any particular way in a given case. Thus, kindly answer each and every question without invoking Canon 67. Candidates who answer all of the questions will be given preference in endorsement over those who do not. Thank you for your participation. Candidate Details DATE: January 7, 2016 VACANCY: 6 th Subcircuit A Vacancy PARTY: Democrat NAME: Anna Maria Loftus VOTING ADDRESS: HOME PHONE: BUSINESS PHONE: CAMPAIGN ADDRESS: CAMPAIGN PHONE: CAMPAIGN FAX: WEBSITE: CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Candidate Details A) Elective or appointive, public or party, offices previously held (including dates). I was appointed to the bench by the Supreme Court in April 2014 and currently preside over a mortgage foreclosure call in the Chancery Division. B) Other elective offices for which you have been a candidate. None. C) What is your primary occupation? D) Principal business, educational, professional and civic activities of the past ten years. Prior to my appointment to the bench in April 2014, I was a partner in a civil litigation firm, with an emphasis on medical malpractice litigation and appellate work. Before joining the firm, I was a clerk for Justice Michael Page 1 of 6

2 Candidate Details J. Gallagher of the Illinois Appellate Court, 1 st Dist. I am a member of the Illinois Judges Association, Chicago Bar Association, and Women s Bar Association of Illinois. I was previously a member of the Appellate Lawyers Association. Before taking the bench, I was appointed by the Supreme Court to the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission Review Board ( ), a volunteer position which involved hearing the appeal of decisions of the hearing board concerning attorney misconduct. Prior to that, I was appointed by the Supreme Court to the Committee on Character and Fitness, IL Board of Admissions to the Bar ( ), another volunteer position. I am a volunteer with Make a Wish Illinois and the Friendship Center Food Pantry in Lincoln Square. I volunteer my time and participate in fundraising activities not in conflict with the Judicial Code of Conduct. I participated in medical/dental mission trips to Honduras (2001) and Mexico (2007) by assisting the medical and dental professionals directly and by organizing and comforting those who had traveled far from home to receive help. I also raised money on behalf of orphans of AIDS through Global Alliance for Africa along with ascent of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania (2009). E) What experience have you had which will be most helpful to you in the office you seek? In addition to working as a for over 20 months, my experience working as a community organizer at a non-profit organization to develop home visitation programs for new parents heightened my compassion for those facing adversity and solidified my desire to serve others, as I now do on the bench. I am keenly aware that many people fall on hard times due to the loss of a job, downsizing, divorce, or medical issues and they end up standing before me. My role allows me to positively affect the lives of so many people who are faced with the loss of their homes. F) Please detail your prior political activity, if any, providing positions held, dates, organizational memberships, and roles you played in political campaigns. I volunteered for campaigns of Senator Carol Mosely Braun, President Bill Clinton and President Obama. I did not hold any official positions in those campaigns. G) Please list all endorsements you have received. I am openly endorsed by Committeeman Paul Rosenfeld and Alderman Ameya Pawar of the 47 th Ward, and Alderman Nicholas Sposato of the 38 th Ward. The decisions on many endorsements by individuals and organizations are pending. Judicial Evaluation Ratings: Using the form below, please list any evaluation ratings you have ever received for any judicial office by any bar association. List the office and the date of the election for which the evaluation was made. To add more rows, place the cursor in the bottom, right cell and hit the tab key. Date Office Bar Association Rating Chicago Bar Association Qualified Cook County Bar Association Puerto Rican Bar Association of Illinois Page 2 of 6

3 Judicial Evaluation Ratings: Using the form below, please list any evaluation ratings you have ever received for any judicial office by any bar association. List the office and the date of the election for which the evaluation was made. To add more rows, place the cursor in the bottom, right cell and hit the tab key. Date Office Bar Association Rating Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois Black Women Lawyers Association of Greater Chicago Chicago Council of Lawyers Illinois State Bar Assocaition Decalogue Society of Lawyers Hellenic Bar Association of Illinois Lesbian And Gay Bar Association of Chicago Women s Bar Assocaition of Illinois Asian American Bar Association of Greater Chicago Qualified Qualified Qualified Page 3 of 6

4 Part II: Issue Questions Essay Questions 1. What do you believe are the major strengths and weaknesses of the Circuit Court? Would you change the manner in which the Circuit Court functions? From my experience as a Circuit Judge in the Chancery Division, a major strength of the Circuit Court is the high quality of judges that work with me, and I am also impressed that the Circuit Court provides a help desk for pro se litigants. As a judge presiding over foreclosure cases, about half of the defendants before me are pro se defendants, and the pro se help desk greatly benefits these people, who are experiencing the tragic loss of their home. As a judge, a weakness I experienced with the Circuit Court is the lack of electronic documents available because the Circuit Court is still largely a paper based system. 2. How should judges be assigned to the various divisions of the Court? If you are elected, to what division would you like to be assigned and why? The chief judge should, and does, take into account the experience of new judges prior to their ascension to the bench. It is impossible to always send a new judge to a division related to his or her prior experience. I am currently presiding over a Mortgage Foreclosure call in the Chancery Division. 3. Please cite and explain the case or cases which best illustrate your understanding of the scope of the right to privacy under the Illinois Constitution. The Illinois Supreme Court has observed that the Illinois Constitution goes beyond federal constitutional guarantees by expressly recognizing a zone of personal privacy, and that the protection of that privacy is stated broadly and without restrictions. Kunkel v. Walton, 179 Ill.2d 519, 537, 689 N.E.2d 1047 (1997). Even under the expanded privacy protections afforded by the Illinois Constitution, however, the constitutional right to privacy is not absolute, as only unreasonable invasions of privacy are constitutionally forbidden. People v. Cornelius, 213 Ill.2d 178, 193, 821 N.E.2d 288 (2004). Cornelius was the first Illinois Supreme Court case to address a privacy claim based on article I, section 6 of the Illinois Constitution, in the context of a criminal prosecution. People v. Caballes, 221 Ill.2d 282, 326, 851 N.E.2d 26 (2006). 4. What are the pros and cons of an elected, an appointed, or a hybrid system for the judiciary? How might the Illinois courts benefit or suffer from a change? A hybrid system allows many avenues for someone seeking to join the judiciary an opportunity to do so. If the system was only an appointed system, for instance, many potential jurists who are not able to come to the attention of the Supreme Court would not have a chance to be considered. Page 4 of 6

5 5. How has mandatory sentencing affected the criminal justice system in Illinois? Mandatory sentencing prevents judges from using their discretion in sentencing and in the past has resulted in harsher penalties for certain crimes, like possession of crack cocaine, than crimes of a similar nature, possession of cocaine. This contributed to the incarceration of racial and ethnic minorities at a higher rate and for longer periods than those defendants who were convicted of cocaine possession, who tended to have more wealth and were not minorities. The passage of the Fair Sentencing Act has not solved the issue of sentence disparity, but it is moving in the right direction. 6. How has automatic transfer of juveniles for felony charges affected the criminal justice system in Illinois? How has it affected the recidivism rate of juveniles? This practice has increased the number of cases in the criminal court incredibly and deprived the court of discretion to decide whether a particular juvenile should be tried as an adult based on the circumstances. The decision should be made on a case by case basis as to whether a juvenile offender should be charged as an adult. Juveniles are not adults; the prosecution of adolescents should focus on rehabilitation and not punishment. By automatically transferring juvenile defendants to adult courts, we are failing our children by giving them permanent records instead of an opportunity to integrate into society 7. Do you think the juvenile justice system should focus on rehabilitation or punishment? Why? The purpose of the Juvenile Court Act is to rehabilitate juveniles and is not meant to be punitive in nature. I would follow the provisions of the Juvenile Court Act and the law of the State of Illinois. 8. How do you account for the disproportionate number of minorities prosecuted and incarcerated? What can the courts do to correct the disparity? In my opinion, the disparity in prosecutions arises from economic disparities. Criminal defendants from poor, minority communities do not have the same resources as criminal defendants from wealthier communities. Defendants from poorer communities are not afforded the same caliber of criminal defense attorneys as defendants from wealthier communities. 9. What do you consider the important aspects of a judge's decision in handling a petition by a minor for a waiver of parental notice with the intent to have an abortion? As I learned during my internship at the Feminist Majority Foundation in Washington D.C. in 1990, the most important consideration is the best interests of the minor. Pursuant to the Illinois statute, the court must consider whether the minor is sufficiently mature and well-informed to decide intelligently whether to have an abortion. Page 5 of 6

6 10. What options available to a judge under Illinois law do you consider most effective in sentencing perpetrators of hate crimes? Please explain your choices. In addition to the sentence for the underlying crime, the hate crime statute provides for a fine or restitution, as well as public or community service. The most effective sentence would depend upon the circumstances in the particular case, but certainly community service and some form of therapy should be strongly considered in order to attempt to change the mindset of the perpetrator and prevent the offensive behavior from being repeated. 11. What is the proper role of the judiciary in promoting diversity in the legal profession and on the bench? How can the judiciary better address diversity issues? The judiciary should be active in promoting diversity on the bench. There are many ways to do so, including mentoring qualified attorneys during their careers and while they seek to join the judiciary, welcoming young people to spend a day with a judge to learn about the position as a potential career, and speaking to bar associations and community groups about diversity. Page 6 of 6

7 Instructions: From within your Word processor, please answer all questions in Part I (Instructions and Candidate Details) and Part II (Issue Questions). In the Essay section, please answer the questions at the length you deem sufficient. It is OK if your comments cause tables, etc., to shift pages. We are aware that Canon 67 of the Illinois Canons of Judicial Ethics purports to restrict your ability to appear to commit yourself to a position that you may later have to rule on. We are also aware that Republican Party of Minnesota v. White, 536 U.S. 765 (2002), struck down a similar, if not identical, canon in Minnesota as a violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. In an effort to accommodate any conflict you may still feel between Illinois Canon 67 and the White case, we hereby acknowledge that any answer you give to any of our questions does not commit you to rule in any particular way in a given case. Thus, kindly answer each and every question without invoking Canon 67. Candidates who answer all of the questions will be given preference in endorsement over those who do not. Thank you for your participation. Candidate Details DATE: January 7, 2016 VACANCY: 6 th Subcircuit A Vacancy PARTY: Democrat NAME: Anna Maria Loftus VOTING ADDRESS: 2619 W. Leland Avenue #3, Chicago, IL HOME PHONE: BUSINESS PHONE: CAMPAIGN ADDRESS: 200 S. Wacker Drive Suite 3300 CAMPAIGN PHONE: CAMPAIGN FAX: N/A amloftus@gmail.com WEBSITE: CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Mary Kay Dawson Candidate Details A) Elective or appointive, public or party, offices previously held (including dates). I was appointed to the bench by the Supreme Court in April 2014 and currently preside over a mortgage foreclosure call in the Chancery Division. B) Other elective offices for which you have been a candidate. None. C) What is your primary occupation? D) Principal business, educational, professional and civic activities of the past ten years. Prior to my appointment to the bench in April 2014, I was a partner in a civil litigation firm, with an emphasis on medical malpractice litigation and appellate work. Before joining the firm, I was a clerk for Justice Michael Page 1 of 6

8 Candidate Details J. Gallagher of the Illinois Appellate Court, 1 st Dist. I am a member of the Illinois Judges Association, Chicago Bar Association, and Women s Bar Association of Illinois. I was previously a member of the Appellate Lawyers Association. Before taking the bench, I was appointed by the Supreme Court to the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission Review Board ( ), a volunteer position which involved hearing the appeal of decisions of the hearing board concerning attorney misconduct. Prior to that, I was appointed by the Supreme Court to the Committee on Character and Fitness, IL Board of Admissions to the Bar ( ), another volunteer position. I am a volunteer with Make a Wish Illinois and the Friendship Center Food Pantry in Lincoln Square. I volunteer my time and participate in fundraising activities not in conflict with the Judicial Code of Conduct. I participated in medical/dental mission trips to Honduras (2001) and Mexico (2007) by assisting the medical and dental professionals directly and by organizing and comforting those who had traveled far from home to receive help. I also raised money on behalf of orphans of AIDS through Global Alliance for Africa along with ascent of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania (2009). E) What experience have you had which will be most helpful to you in the office you seek? In addition to working as a for over 20 months, my experience working as a community organizer at a non-profit organization to develop home visitation programs for new parents heightened my compassion for those facing adversity and solidified my desire to serve others, as I now do on the bench. I am keenly aware that many people fall on hard times due to the loss of a job, downsizing, divorce, or medical issues and they end up standing before me. My role allows me to positively affect the lives of so many people who are faced with the loss of their homes. F) Please detail your prior political activity, if any, providing positions held, dates, organizational memberships, and roles you played in political campaigns. I volunteered for campaigns of Senator Carol Mosely Braun, President Bill Clinton and President Obama. I did not hold any official positions in those campaigns. G) Please list all endorsements you have received. I am openly endorsed by Committeeman Paul Rosenfeld and Alderman Ameya Pawar of the 47 th Ward, and Alderman Nicholas Sposato of the 38 th Ward. The decisions on many endorsements by individuals and organizations are pending. Judicial Evaluation Ratings: Using the form below, please list any evaluation ratings you have ever received for any judicial office by any bar association. List the office and the date of the election for which the evaluation was made. To add more rows, place the cursor in the bottom, right cell and hit the tab key. Date Office Bar Association Rating Chicago Bar Association Qualified Cook County Bar Association Puerto Rican Bar Association of Illinois Page 2 of 6

9 Judicial Evaluation Ratings: Using the form below, please list any evaluation ratings you have ever received for any judicial office by any bar association. List the office and the date of the election for which the evaluation was made. To add more rows, place the cursor in the bottom, right cell and hit the tab key. Date Office Bar Association Rating Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois Black Women Lawyers Association of Greater Chicago Chicago Council of Lawyers Illinois State Bar Assocaition Decalogue Society of Lawyers Hellenic Bar Association of Illinois Lesbian And Gay Bar Association of Chicago Women s Bar Assocaition of Illinois Asian American Bar Association of Greater Chicago Qualified Qualified Qualified Page 3 of 6

10 Part II: Issue Questions Essay Questions 1. What do you believe are the major strengths and weaknesses of the Circuit Court? Would you change the manner in which the Circuit Court functions? From my experience as a Circuit Judge in the Chancery Division, a major strength of the Circuit Court is the high quality of judges that work with me, and I am also impressed that the Circuit Court provides a help desk for pro se litigants. As a judge presiding over foreclosure cases, about half of the defendants before me are pro se defendants, and the pro se help desk greatly benefits these people, who are experiencing the tragic loss of their home. As a judge, a weakness I experienced with the Circuit Court is the lack of electronic documents available because the Circuit Court is still largely a paper based system. 2. How should judges be assigned to the various divisions of the Court? If you are elected, to what division would you like to be assigned and why? The chief judge should, and does, take into account the experience of new judges prior to their ascension to the bench. It is impossible to always send a new judge to a division related to his or her prior experience. I am currently presiding over a Mortgage Foreclosure call in the Chancery Division. 3. Please cite and explain the case or cases which best illustrate your understanding of the scope of the right to privacy under the Illinois Constitution. The Illinois Supreme Court has observed that the Illinois Constitution goes beyond federal constitutional guarantees by expressly recognizing a zone of personal privacy, and that the protection of that privacy is stated broadly and without restrictions. Kunkel v. Walton, 179 Ill.2d 519, 537, 689 N.E.2d 1047 (1997). Even under the expanded privacy protections afforded by the Illinois Constitution, however, the constitutional right to privacy is not absolute, as only unreasonable invasions of privacy are constitutionally forbidden. People v. Cornelius, 213 Ill.2d 178, 193, 821 N.E.2d 288 (2004). Cornelius was the first Illinois Supreme Court case to address a privacy claim based on article I, section 6 of the Illinois Constitution, in the context of a criminal prosecution. People v. Caballes, 221 Ill.2d 282, 326, 851 N.E.2d 26 (2006). 4. What are the pros and cons of an elected, an appointed, or a hybrid system for the judiciary? How might the Illinois courts benefit or suffer from a change? A hybrid system allows many avenues for someone seeking to join the judiciary an opportunity to do so. If the system was only an appointed system, for instance, many potential jurists who are not able to come to the attention of the Supreme Court would not have a chance to be considered. Page 4 of 6

11 5. How has mandatory sentencing affected the criminal justice system in Illinois? Mandatory sentencing prevents judges from using their discretion in sentencing and in the past has resulted in harsher penalties for certain crimes, like possession of crack cocaine, than crimes of a similar nature, possession of cocaine. This contributed to the incarceration of racial and ethnic minorities at a higher rate and for longer periods than those defendants who were convicted of cocaine possession, who tended to have more wealth and were not minorities. The passage of the Fair Sentencing Act has not solved the issue of sentence disparity, but it is moving in the right direction. 6. How has automatic transfer of juveniles for felony charges affected the criminal justice system in Illinois? How has it affected the recidivism rate of juveniles? This practice has increased the number of cases in the criminal court incredibly and deprived the court of discretion to decide whether a particular juvenile should be tried as an adult based on the circumstances. The decision should be made on a case by case basis as to whether a juvenile offender should be charged as an adult. Juveniles are not adults; the prosecution of adolescents should focus on rehabilitation and not punishment. By automatically transferring juvenile defendants to adult courts, we are failing our children by giving them permanent records instead of an opportunity to integrate into society 7. Do you think the juvenile justice system should focus on rehabilitation or punishment? Why? The purpose of the Juvenile Court Act is to rehabilitate juveniles and is not meant to be punitive in nature. I would follow the provisions of the Juvenile Court Act and the law of the State of Illinois. 8. How do you account for the disproportionate number of minorities prosecuted and incarcerated? What can the courts do to correct the disparity? In my opinion, the disparity in prosecutions arises from economic disparities. Criminal defendants from poor, minority communities do not have the same resources as criminal defendants from wealthier communities. Defendants from poorer communities are not afforded the same caliber of criminal defense attorneys as defendants from wealthier communities. 9. What do you consider the important aspects of a judge's decision in handling a petition by a minor for a waiver of parental notice with the intent to have an abortion? As I learned during my internship at the Feminist Majority Foundation in Washington D.C. in 1990, the most important consideration is the best interests of the minor. Pursuant to the Illinois statute, the court must consider whether the minor is sufficiently mature and well-informed to decide intelligently whether to have an abortion. Page 5 of 6

12 10. What options available to a judge under Illinois law do you consider most effective in sentencing perpetrators of hate crimes? Please explain your choices. In addition to the sentence for the underlying crime, the hate crime statute provides for a fine or restitution, as well as public or community service. The most effective sentence would depend upon the circumstances in the particular case, but certainly community service and some form of therapy should be strongly considered in order to attempt to change the mindset of the perpetrator and prevent the offensive behavior from being repeated. 11. What is the proper role of the judiciary in promoting diversity in the legal profession and on the bench? How can the judiciary better address diversity issues? The judiciary should be active in promoting diversity on the bench. There are many ways to do so, including mentoring qualified attorneys during their careers and while they seek to join the judiciary, welcoming young people to spend a day with a judge to learn about the position as a potential career, and speaking to bar associations and community groups about diversity. Page 6 of 6