Rauner wants judges with his politics

Gov. Rauner was quoted as accusing the Illinois Supreme Court of being part of a "corrupt system" and further said "I don't trust the Supreme Court to be rational in their decisions."

When judges are unfairly criticized, they are generally barred from replying because of the requirements of the Code of Judicial Conduct. Our organization, made up of civil trial lawyers who represent plaintiffs and defendants throughout Illinois and the nation, responds publicly when judges receive unfair criticism.

Our group has never had to respond to similar charges against the judiciary made by a sitting governor. The governor's charges are reckless and bizarre.

He posits that elected officials who accept campaign contributions are corrupt for that reason. By that faulty logic, any public official, including himself, who accepts a campaign contribution is "part of a corrupt system."

That simply is not true and the governor offered no evidence to support the slurs that he made against the Illinois Supreme Court. If the governor wants to have a meaningful debate about whether we should elect or appoint our judges, we would welcome that discussion. There are pros and cons to each system, but we doubt that is what the governor wants. He is simply anti-judge.

The governor was proud to exhibit his ballot in the November election where he voted "no" for every judge on the retention ballot. That behavior and his recent comments show contempt for a co-equal branch of government that is beneath the office he is very fortunate to hold.

He simply wants judges who agree with his politics. Bruce R. Pfaff, President

Robert J. Napleton, National Board Member

American Board of Trial Advocates