On Wednesday, Cook County’s 263 circuit court judges will gather on the 17th floor of the Richard J. Daley Center to vote by secret paper ballot for their next chief judge.
As he campaigns for a record ninth term, incumbent Timothy Evans faces an unusual challenge from two circuit court judges, Nichole Patton and Charles Beach, each with less than a decade on the bench. Patton and Beach are appealing to their fellow judges with promises of new initiatives to address their safety, more-open communication, and technological advancement.
But the chief judge isn’t just in charge of judicial assignments and judges’ well-being. The role also means controlling a $368 million budget and managing more than 3,000 full-time employees — the third-largest workforce of any county agency.
Above all else, tens of thousands of Cook County residents intersect with the Office of the Chief Judge every year in the vast nonjudicial portion of the court bureaucracy: probation and social service programs; the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center; the Public Guardian’s Office, which is tasked with representing abused children and adults with disabilities; mediation and arbitration; and more.
Though the chief judge does not create or enforce laws, he or she is responsible for the culture of the courts and consistent application of those laws.
“What the chief judge does is set values and set priorities, and can also create programs or partner with others to create programs in the legal system,” said Naomi Johnson, co-executive director of the Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts, the only local organization focused exclusively on monitoring the administration of the circuit court. “They’re just an extremely influential figure over our system.”
A quarter-century under Evans
Evans, 82, has spent virtually his entire adult life in public office. He was first elected 4th Ward alderperson in 1973, then became a judge in 1992. He served as presiding judge of the domestic relations and law divisions before being elected to his first three-year term as chief judge in 2001.
Evans has been challenged as chief judge on three prior occasions, most recently in 2019. Each time he has beaten his opponent with more than 55% of the vote. This is the first election since he first rose to the post in which he faces multiple challengers.
Rounds of voting will continue until one candidate receives a majority of the vote. If he wins, Evans — who is only the fourth chief judge since the circuit court was unified in 1964 — will begin his 25th year at the helm of the system.
Evans has “largely been a force of good and has been a relatively progressive figure,” Johnson said. “He has acknowledged the issues in our system — like the extreme criminalization, the lack of second chances or diversion for people — and has taken steps to address those in ways that we don’t see in jurisdictions nationally or even around the state.” They added that Evans has kept the circuit court “on the straight and narrow,” with no signs of the bribery and blatant corruption that had previously tarnished its reputation.
Appleseed’s co-executive director Stephanie Agnew credited Evans with issuing a general order in 2017 instructing judges to uphold the legal obligation not to set bail at rates criminal defendants couldn’t afford. “That helped shrink the jail population,” Agnew said, “and eventually, in a long, winding way, helped lead to the Pretrial Fairness Act,” the 2021 law that eliminated cash bail in Illinois.
But Evans’ tenure has not gone untouched by scandal and controversy. A decade ago, the Tribune reported on probation officers who conducted illegal searches with Chicago police and the FBI. In response, Evans fired the probation department boss at the center of the controversy and updated policies regarding home visits. The juvenile detention center has for years been criticized for inhumane treatment of youths. Injustice Watch recently reported that its superintendent, Leonard Dixon, an Evans appointee, appears to be living in Michigan. Outside attorneys retained by Evans’ office “concluded that Supt. Dixon resides in Illinois,” according to a spokesperson.
In a slick campaign video, Evans stressed the depth of his experience and his gratitude to the ranks of judges who continue to trust him. He reminded them that he’d recently given them all personal panic buttons, and promised to work to secure state funding to otherwise improve judicial protections. He also promised to collaborate with the state Supreme Court on the responsible use of artificial intelligence in the courts, and to address judges’ vicarious trauma. Judges’ safety has become a growing concern amid increasing political polarization across the country. Additionally, studies have shown that judges and other court staff struggle with the psychological impacts of their caseloads.
“A part of my job, yes, is to help the judges, but also, a lot of the services (are things) the public benefits from directly,” Evans told Injustice Watch in a recent interview. “The experience that I’ve gained and the commitment to fairness and justice helps members of the public in addition to the judges.”
As examples of these kinds of services, Evans cited court interpreters; legal aid for unrepresented litigants in eviction and consumer debt cases; and providing emergency orders of protection, including overnight.
“My goal has always been to provide steadiness, not perfection, but consistency,” Evans wrote in a July 31 letter soliciting his colleagues’ votes. “I have been committed to listening, learning, and doing what is right.”
In the letter, he enumerates accomplishments such as “improvements at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center,” and national accolades for the problem-solving courts, such as drug court and veterans court, which have grown over his tenure. “I am especially proud of the Restorative Justice graduates who have been given a second chance and the opportunity to succeed,” Evans wrote, referring to the court program that diverts young people from the criminal legal system.
Asked by Injustice Watch whether he’s had any failures in his nearly quarter-century as the head of one of the nation’s largest court systems, Evans did not answer directly, saying only that he wished he had been able to establish the restorative justice community courts sooner. “But I don’t consider that a failure,” he said. “I’m the only chief judge that has established restorative justice courts in the whole state. So it’s not a failure at all.”
Evans said he could not cite any moments of regret. “For me, it’s been exhilarating. I don’t have those moments, luckily, because there’s so much to do.”
Challengers stress need for fresh vision
In interviews with Injustice Watch, neither of Evans’ opponents shared specifics about their plans for the vast array of nonjudicial functions they would administer if they won, nor did they detail policy initiatives they would prioritize in the parts of the court bureaucracy that interact directly with county residents. Beach and Patton also stopped short of criticizing Evans.
“I didn’t look at it like I was running against him, but rather I was running for the office,” Beach said. “I genuinely love and respect the man. I just think it’s been 24 years he’s led the judiciary. Technology has changed and advanced, society has changed …. We need leadership that’s fluent in those complexities in our digital age.”
Beach became an associate judge in 2018 and was elected judge from the 6th Subcircuit in 2022. Before his current assignment hearing major civil cases in the law division, he made bail decisions in the pretrial division. His legal career was focused on criminal defense.
He has been leaning into a door-knocking strategy as he campaigns. “I am treating this as a see-every-judge listening tour,” he said, estimating that he had met with 80% of the county’s judges by mid-August. He said they want better communication with the chief judge and improved efficiency in court operations, and are concerned about their safety.
“Many judges I’ve spoken to have had issues with litigants or other people attacking them,” Beach said.
On his website and in a campaign video shared with the judiciary, Beach, 55, promises to improve judicial security, to have an open-door policy, and to improve transparency in judicial assignments. He also promises to set “a clear standard” for what judicial conduct is regulated by the Office of the Chief Judge and what is the purview of the state Supreme Court’s Judicial Inquiry Board “in a manner that removes redundancy and any opportunity for favoritism and unequal treatment.” He also promises to be more proactive in creating court policies “in response to changing dynamics, such as the detention of immigrants in our courts.”
Beach said he isn’t just trying to appeal to judges’ self-interest, however. A core concern for judges, he said, “is understanding the responsibility that ultimately we serve the public. People are asking me, ‘What are you gonna do to help me better serve the public?’” He said he frames his campaign pillars as things that will help judges do just that.
Patton, too, described campaigning by meeting with judges personally, and has also rolled out an extensive website detailing her platform: strengthening judicial education, protecting judicial independence, improving public trust in the courts, and addressing judges’ mental health and well-being. Her site features a video enhanced with an AI-generated animation of her face, a digital flipbook outlining her response to judges’ crisis scenarios, and a survey that asks judges how the courts can better serve the public.
Patton told Injustice Watch that 49 judges had submitted survey responses as of mid-August. In questions about what could be done to improve public trust in the courts, she said respondents ranked highly the idea of community forums about court operations, and partnerships with community organizations to provide court education.
Patton, 52, who was appointed to the bench in 2018 and elected from the 15th Subcircuit in 2020, was a prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and worked in private practice before becoming a judge. She is the president of the Chicago Bar Association. Before her current assignment in the law division, she heard civil cases in the county division.
“The message that I would have for the public is that with me they will have someone with executive leadership, who has led organizations before, that will be capable of leading the Office of the Chief Judge and the vast amount of departments that it oversees — that they will have a competent person who will be able to start the job on day one,” she said.
But like Beach, she was loath to criticize Evans.
“I believe that we need a fresh vision for the judiciary and not just merely continuity,” Patton told Injustice Watch. “We’ve had 24 years, and we thank Chief Judge Timothy Evans for his service, but I believe that the challenges that we face today require fresh energy, new energy, new solutions, and a leader who’s deeply invested in every judge’s success.”
A ‘pope-style vote’
Asked what he would do if he loses, Evans, who was last retained in 2022, would not say whether he would retire or rejoin the ranks of circuit judges to preside over a courtroom.
“I leave that to you and my opponents to speculate on. I don’t think that you’ll have to worry about that,” Evans said. “I don’t spend much time trying to figure out what will happen if I lose.”
Evans also rejected the idea that, in a democratic society, it might be healthier for the chief judge to have term or age limits. “I believe a healthy democracy is based upon talent and capability, not age,” he said. “And I think that term limits would eliminate many of the talented, capable people who have gotten that experience.”
Injustice Watch asked other stakeholders in the Cook County legal system to reflect on what they want to see next from the chief judge’s office. Sheriff Tom Dart, who has sparred with Evans over judges’ decisions regarding pretrial incarceration and electronic monitoring, declined to comment. So did State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke, a former circuit court and appellate court judge, who recently questioned Evans’ ability to administer the county’s electronic monitoring program.
Clerk of the Circuit Court Mariyana Spyropoulos did not list specifics, saying only, “I work with the chief judge to ensure our courts are accessible, fair, and responsive to the needs of every resident.”
In a statement, County Board President Toni Preckwinkle focused on changes she wants to see to juvenile detention.
“It has been my stated intention since 2011 that we reduce and ultimately eliminate the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center,” Preckwinkle wrote. “We must ensure that any new or additional facilities that replace the JTDC do not result in more children being confined or detained, and do not simply transplant old practices to new locations.”
Public Defender Sharone Mitchell Jr. praised Evans’ support for the abolition of money bail “and his continued commitment to finding alternatives to incarceration that support our clients and uplift our communities.”
“This should be the starting point from which all candidates begin,” he wrote in a statement.
Mitchell added that any chief judge “must use their administrative power to ensure just results if we are to avoid the incredible failures of the past, which were defined by wrongful convictions, mass incarceration of adults and youth, widespread permanent punishments through criminal records, and too-frequent family separation in the child protection court system.”
Court observers also told Injustice Watch there are things they hope will change regardless of who inhabits the chief judge’s office.
Much of Appleseed’s advocacy is focused on court transparency, for which Johnson and Agnew did not give Evans high marks. “That’s been our No. 1 with the chief judge’s office,” Johnson said. “Because they’re not subject to (the Illinois Freedom of Information Act), I’d like to see them affirmatively share information about their programs.” They added that they wanted to see independent reviews of the county’s problem-solving courts “to understand if they’re effective.”
Any data about the success of programs run by the Office of the Chief Judge cannot be independently verified. Many of the statistical reports posted on the chief judge’s website have not been updated in years. “They say, ‘Oh, we’re successful because we say we’re successful and because we have the data and you don’t,’” Agnew said. “We can’t get that data and then double-check their results.”
The way the chief judge is selected is representative of this lack of transparency, advocates said. The head of the court system is chosen by only a subset of judges — the circuit judges, who are themselves elected by the public. No one is allowed to observe the election, and judges monitor and report the vote themselves.
“Having this small group of people in a pope-style vote,” Johnson said, “it’s antithetical to how our legal system should function.”
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