Jesse G. Reyes: Candidate profile
Bio
Party: Democrat
City: Chicago
Office sought: Illinois Supreme Court (Freeman Vacancy)
Age: 67
Family: Married & One Adult Child
Occupation: Judge of the Illinois Appellate Court, First District
Education: High School - Thomas Kelly; College - University of Illinois at Chicago & Law School - UIC John Marshall Law School
Civic involvement: President, Diversity Scholarship Foundation; Member of the American Inn of Court, Asian American Bar Association, Chicago Bar Association, Hispanic Bar Association of Illinois, Hispanic National Bar Association, Illinois Bar Association, North
Suburban Bar Association, Women's Bar Association of Illinois. Master of the Bench of the Chicago Inn of Court. Member of the Sierra Club, Chicago Chapter of the NAACP.
Previous elected offices held: Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County
Incumbent? If yes, when were first elected: I am not an incumbent.
Website: JusticeReyes.com
Twitter: @JesseGReyes
Facebook: Jesse Reyes for Illinois Supreme Court
Questions and Answers
1. Why are you running for the Illinois Supreme Court? What skills, qualities or experiences set you apart from your opponents?
I believe I am qualified to be a Supreme Court Justice as I bring to the position diversity of experience, diversity of practice and diversity of perspective. I also bring the ability to identify problems and find a solution to a situation or issue affecting our system of justice. Additionally, I have made it a point to share my experience and knowledge by teaching, lecturing and presenting on a wide variety of topics to law students, lawyers, judges, and laypeople internationally, nationally and locally. Lastly, I have dedicated myself as a jurist to be a public servant on and off the bench. My commitment to serving the public does not end when I step off the bench it continues beyond the courtroom.
2 Please identify potential conflicts of interest that might arise if you are elected to the Illinois Supreme Court, including family members, former law partners, clients or companies or government agencies for which you have worked. How would you address such
a conflict?
Currently there are no potential conflicts that I foresee at this time, however, if any conflict should arise I would immediately recuse myself from the case. I have always followed the Judicial Code of Conduct and will continue to do so on the Illinois Supreme Court.
Additionally, it has been my practice throughout my judicial career to preemptively reviewing all cases assigned to me prior to rendering a decision for any and all potential conflicts and if there were any appearance of a conflict I would recuse myself accordingly.
Also, of course, I would recuse myself from any cases were I had previously rendered a decision.
3. If you are or have been a judge, have you ever recused yourself from a case? If so, was it in response to a motion or suggestion by a party to the case? In what circumstances should a Supreme Court justice recuse himself or herself?
No one has ever brought a motion requesting I recuse myself from a case. Also, please see above stated response.
4. How important is racial and gender diversity on the Illinois Supreme Court and across the judiciary? How would it guide your actions when making appointments to the bench? Please explain your answer.
Diversity on the bench and within the court system is essential to instill confidence in the system. When people walk into a courtroom and they do not see anybody who looks like them, it serves to undermine confidence in the system. We should strive to have our courtrooms
reflect the diversity of our society at large.
When making an appointment diversity should always be a factor to be considered. This along with experience, knowledge of the law, integrity, character are some of the requisite requirements the candidate to be appointed should possess.
5. What measures do you support for enabling the public to monitor court activities in Illinois? Should courts in Illinois be required to allow electronic recording by news media?
The courtrooms are public forums and therefore the public should be allowed to monitor court activities. This is why we need court reporters or an audio system in every courtroom in Illinois.
As for electronic recordings by the news media this should be determined on a case by case basis.
6. Do you support public financing of campaigns for Illinois Supreme Court? Do you support political party slating for candidates for Illinois Supreme Court?
Yes, I support public financing of campaigns for Illinois Supreme Court. No, I do not support the slating of candidates for the Illinois Supreme Court. The people should decide who sits in the people's court.