State Supreme Court election

Regarding Sara Paretsky’s op-ed “State Supreme Court races could lead to rollback of abortion rights” (Oct. 9): Paretsky, in hyperbolic fashion, speculates that if her preferred state Supreme Court candidates are not elected, the court will follow the lead of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. What the Dobbs decision did was send the issue of abortion restrictions back to state legislatures.

In 2019, Illinois made abortion rights fundamental. If residents disagree with this legislation, the solution is to elect legislators, not judges, who more closely align with their beliefs.

In 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court appointed Michael Burke to a vacancy created when Justice Bob Thomas retired. Thomas as a justice specially concurred with the court’s opinion in Hope Clinic v. Flores, which outlined how the delegates to the 1970 Illinois Constitutional Convention debated the issue of abortion. In the end, neither the anti-abortion rights delegates nor the pro-abortion rights delegates could muster a majority to have the issue addressed in our constitution. Thus, like in Dobbs, the abortion conundrum was left to the General Assembly to resolve.

The op-ed cites faulty evidence in stating that Burke will be biased in his legal analysis of any abortion law that may come before the state Supreme Court for review.

As a lawyer and retired judge, I have known Burke for decades, and I have witnessed him in the courtroom serving as a skilled prosecutor and as a fair and balanced judge. Burke has never authored a single extreme or bad ruling. He has served with distinction at every level of the judiciary. The Illinois State Bar Association has rated him as “highly recommended.”

— Paul Noland, retired DuPage County judge, Glen Ellyn