Democratic justice from Chicago succeeds retiring Justice Anne Burke.
Illinois Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis asks a question during oral arguments in a case where Lisle's Benedictine University hosted the court in 2016.
Selected by her fellow justices on the seven-member high court, Theis will serve a three-year term, assuming voters in the Nov. 8 general election choose to retain her on the bench for another 10-year term. Theis will be the fourth woman, and second in a row following Burke, to lead the court.Her appointment to the largely administrative role comes at a tumultuous time for the court, which will see its partisan balance — currently 4-3 in favor of Democrats — determined by.
Prior to being appointed to the bench in Cook County in 1983, she worked as an assistant public defender. She was elected a circuit judge in 1988 and elevated to the First District Appellate Court by appointment in 1993.