SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Supreme Court announced Tuesday that Justice P. Scott Neville Jr. has been chosen to be the state’s 123rd chief justice, succeeding Mary Jane Theis, whose three-year term as head of the court expires Oct. 26.
Theis, who was named chief justice in 2022, will remain on the court as an associate justice.
Neville, 76, has served on the court since 2018 when he was appointed to fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Charles Freeman. He was elected to a 10-year term in 2020. He previously served as an appellate court justice and as a Cook County circuit court judge.
According to a release from the court, Neville began his legal career as the first Black law clerk for a Cook County appellate justice. Later, he practiced civil law and appellate law, which included helping prosecute a lawsuit over the 1992 redistricting of Chicago’s 50 wards.
Neville received a bachelor of arts degree from Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri, and a juris doctorate from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis.
In a statement, Neville said public trust in the courts “requires justice that is accessible, procedures that are understandable, and support services that meet the needs of litigants.”
“I will always work to make the Illinois courts a national model, safeguarding the constitutional promise of equal justice without regard to who a person is, where they live, or what resources they have so all litigants are seen and heard,” he said.
The Illinois Supreme Court is composed of seven justices who are elected by districts in partisan races. Under the Illinois Constitution, three justices are chosen from Cook County and the other four are elected from downstate in districts that are drawn by the General Assembly and are supposed to be roughly equal in population.
The justices elect a chief justice to a three-year term from within their own ranks. The post typically goes to the most senior justice who has not already served a term as chief justice.
Neville will become the state’s second Black chief justice after Freeman, who held the post from 1997 to 2000.
The chief justice’s duties include overseeing the administration of Illinois courts and more than 900 judges, supervising appointments to Supreme Court committees, leading the Illinois Judicial Conference and presenting the court’s annual budget to the General Assembly.
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