I do not yet have the full list.
Presumably I'll have the full list tomorrow at some point; when I do have it, I will post it. Then, and only then, will we be able to say with certainty who is on the list and how many vacancies there are to be filled (there are two names on the short list for each available vacancy per Supreme Court Rule 39).
In the meantime, I've cobbled together a partial, unofficial list from lists I've obtained from others.
If I include someone's name below who is not on the actual list, I apologize in advance.
If my sources are correct, there are at least seven sitting judges on the list and at least one former judge who made the cut.
The former judge is John S. Fotopoulos, who was a 15th Subcircuit candidate in 2014 and received a countywide appointment in 2017. He was not a candidate in the 2018 primary -- but he was a finalist in the 2018 Associate Judge selection. So he is apparently returning to the Short List for a second time.
So, too, apparently, is Judge Marina E. Ammendola. She currently sits by appointment to the countywide Sheehan vacancy, but was passed over at slating time. She was on the Short List in 2018, too.
It is unusual, but not unheard of, for a person to make the Short List twice. And it's not unusual for the court to 'save' some appointed judges who have had trouble winning contested primaries via the Associate Judge selection process.
What is unusual -- truly remarkable -- is that the Short List will apparently contain four candidates for countywide vacancies up for election in March, all of whom have been slated by the Cook County Democratic Party. Three are already judges.
They are Judges Celestia L. Mays (appointed to, and slated for, the countywide Funderburk vacancy), Levander Smith, Jr. (appointed to, and slated for, the countywide Larsen vacancy), and Lloyd James Brooks (appointed to, and slated for, the O'Brien vacancy). Laura Ayala-Gonzalez is not yet a judge, but she was slated by the Democratic Party for the countywide Ford vacancy.
And at least three other incumbent judges, Judges Fredrick H. Bates (1st Subcircuit, Brooks vacancy), Tyria B. Walton (1st Subcircuit, Crawford vacancy), and Daniel O. Tiernan (14th Subcircuit, Lacy vacancy) are also reportedly on the Short List.
If each of these judges is selected as an associate judge and each then wins their respective elections they will, by themselves, trigger a new round of associate judge selection. (Per Rule 39, Cook County is supposed to start a new selection round once there are five associate judge vacancies.)
As already noted, it is unusual, but not unheard of, for a person to make the Short List twice. But not many do.
In 2018, for example, there were two finalists who'd made a prior Short List. Both were selected.
If my sources are accurate, however, there will be nine or more finalists this time who were also on a prior Short List. In addition to Fotopoulos and Ammendola, Judges Mays, Smith, and Brooks were on the 2018 Short List.
And Curtis Bennett Ross, Leo Steven Rakowski, Michael James Hogan Jr., and Amee Elizabeth Alonso are all reportedly on the forthcoming Short List. Each was a finalist in 2018.
At least one person who was slated by the Cook County Democratic Party as an alternate, depending on whether additional countywide vacancies opened up, Frank Andreou, has also apparently made the Short List. There may be one or even two others.
Some apparent newcomers to the list are Katherine Ann O'Dell, John Fairman, Ruth Gudino, and Aileen Bhandari.
Presumably I'll have the full list tomorrow at some point; when I do have it, I will post it. Then, and only then, will we be able to say with certainty who is on the list and how many vacancies there are to be filled (there are two names on the short list for each available vacancy per Supreme Court Rule 39).
In the meantime, I've cobbled together a partial, unofficial list from lists I've obtained from others.
If I include someone's name below who is not on the actual list, I apologize in advance.
If my sources are correct, there are at least seven sitting judges on the list and at least one former judge who made the cut.
The former judge is John S. Fotopoulos, who was a 15th Subcircuit candidate in 2014 and received a countywide appointment in 2017. He was not a candidate in the 2018 primary -- but he was a finalist in the 2018 Associate Judge selection. So he is apparently returning to the Short List for a second time.
So, too, apparently, is Judge Marina E. Ammendola. She currently sits by appointment to the countywide Sheehan vacancy, but was passed over at slating time. She was on the Short List in 2018, too.
It is unusual, but not unheard of, for a person to make the Short List twice. And it's not unusual for the court to 'save' some appointed judges who have had trouble winning contested primaries via the Associate Judge selection process.
What is unusual -- truly remarkable -- is that the Short List will apparently contain four candidates for countywide vacancies up for election in March, all of whom have been slated by the Cook County Democratic Party. Three are already judges.
They are Judges Celestia L. Mays (appointed to, and slated for, the countywide Funderburk vacancy), Levander Smith, Jr. (appointed to, and slated for, the countywide Larsen vacancy), and Lloyd James Brooks (appointed to, and slated for, the O'Brien vacancy). Laura Ayala-Gonzalez is not yet a judge, but she was slated by the Democratic Party for the countywide Ford vacancy.
And at least three other incumbent judges, Judges Fredrick H. Bates (1st Subcircuit, Brooks vacancy), Tyria B. Walton (1st Subcircuit, Crawford vacancy), and Daniel O. Tiernan (14th Subcircuit, Lacy vacancy) are also reportedly on the Short List.
If each of these judges is selected as an associate judge and each then wins their respective elections they will, by themselves, trigger a new round of associate judge selection. (Per Rule 39, Cook County is supposed to start a new selection round once there are five associate judge vacancies.)
As already noted, it is unusual, but not unheard of, for a person to make the Short List twice. But not many do.
In 2018, for example, there were two finalists who'd made a prior Short List. Both were selected.
If my sources are accurate, however, there will be nine or more finalists this time who were also on a prior Short List. In addition to Fotopoulos and Ammendola, Judges Mays, Smith, and Brooks were on the 2018 Short List.
And Curtis Bennett Ross, Leo Steven Rakowski, Michael James Hogan Jr., and Amee Elizabeth Alonso are all reportedly on the forthcoming Short List. Each was a finalist in 2018.
At least one person who was slated by the Cook County Democratic Party as an alternate, depending on whether additional countywide vacancies opened up, Frank Andreou, has also apparently made the Short List. There may be one or even two others.
Some apparent newcomers to the list are Katherine Ann O'Dell, John Fairman, Ruth Gudino, and Aileen Bhandari.