Rahm's eligibility to be decided by Illinois Supreme Court

[Divernan]

It's been stated that Rahm will appeal the question of his eligibility for the Chicago mayoral race to the Illinois Supreme Court. According to Huffington Post's continuing coverage,

"An attorney who argued on Emanuel's behalf told the Chicago Sun-Times that they will immediately appeal the decision to the Illinois Supreme Court. Emanuel himself sounded confident during a Monday afternoon press conference."

Last November, Thomas Kilbride was elected Chief Judge of that body. Justice Kilbride grew up in my hometown, Kankakee (also hometown of former Governor Ryan), and his younger brother was in my high school class(Catholic H.S.), so I have followed his career.

Kilbride is a Democrat who was up for retention in last fall's election from the Third District. He was so controversial that this campaign was the most expensive retention campaign in the state's history (over $3 million).
Some of the race’s controversy stemmed from a decision made last year by the court on medical malpractice. In February, 2010, the state Supreme Court threw out a 2005 law that placed caps on the amount patients could receive in medical malpractice cases. Jury awards for pain and suffering had been capped at $500,000 for doctors and $1 million for hospitals. Kilbride, along with three other judges, voted to overturn those caps.

The Kilbride campaign has received the majority of its money ($1.4 million) from the Illinois Democratic Party, which The Illinois Federation of Teachers have also pitched in hundreds of thousands of dollars. He also received support from conservatives and right-leaning groups, including former Governor Jim Thompson and the National Rifle Association.


The race also drew interest because the court is split along party lines. Kilbride is one of four Democrats on the court, while the other three justices are Republicans. If Kilbride was not retained, the Republicans had a shot at picking up the swing vote, which would be invaluable when lawmakers redraw legislative districts this year. Illinois State Supreme Court will rule on the new legislative districting map drawn up by the Illinois legislature.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. only if the court grants his petition for leave to appeal

if the court says no, he's SOL.

[Divernan]

2. And denying certiorari is in itself a decision

Certiorari

(n) Certiorari is the order issued by an upper court based on a writ of certiorari to review the decision, order and finings made by the lower court when the upper court is of the opinion that the proceedings in the lower court contains irregularity or they are not proper.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. Not in Illinois.

We call it leave to appeal. There is also an appeal as a matter of right, which is not present here. And, the appellate court could have granted leave for an immediate appeal, which they did not do.

[AngryAmish]

4. Plus ILSupreme Court is not in session

from what I heard. They issued those opinions last week and shut it down.