Justice Garman forms screening committee to fill 7th Circuit vacancy

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Rita B. Garman announced Friday the formation of a judicial screening committee to help fill a vacancy in the Seventh Judicial Circuit. Justice Garman established the screening committee to assess the qualifications of those persons who have applied for appointment to the Circuit Court vacancy created by the appointment of Judge Thomas Appleton to the Fourth District Appellate Court in June. Under the Illinois Constitution, the vacancy will be filled by Supreme Court appointment. After the committee has received public input, gathered information and interviewed each of the applicants, it will report its findings to Justice Garman, who will make a recommendation to the Supreme Court from among those applicants submitting their credentials to the committee. The person appointed will serve until the General Election to be held in November 2012. The screening committee consists of seven persons who reside in the Seventh Judicial Circuit. Four of the committee members are non-lawyers and three are lawyers. The non-lawyer members of the committee are Jacksonville resident Jim Bruner, Rochester resident Carolyn Moore, and Springfield residents Howard Peters and Tim Schweizer. The lawyer members of the committee are Hon. Ron Robinson (retired) of Winchester, Peggy Ryan and Jon G. Noll, both of Springfield. Howard Peters will serve as chairperson of the committee. Applicants who will be screened by the committee are: Springfield attorneys Eve Blackwell, Michael Drake, Adam Giganti, Patrick Hansen, Timothy Londrigan, Sarah Pavlik, John Schmidt as well as attorney Jerrod Williams of Morton. Members of the public are invited to submit comments concerning the applicants by writing to Peggy Ryan, secretary, Seventh Circuit Judicial Screening Committee, 200 E. Capitol Avenue, Springfield, IL 62704. Comments should be received by the committee before Tuesday, August 10, 2010. All comments will be held in the strictest confidence by the committee and the Court. The Seventh Judicial Circuit is comprised of six counties: Greene, Jersey, Macoupin, Morgan, Sangamon and Scott counties.