Today I had the honor and privilege to sit in the Courtroom
of the Supreme Court of Illinois located at 160 N. La Salle,Chicago,IL and
hear the views of Justice Mary Jane Theiss. The main courtroom is located in
Springfield,Illinois. A working courtroom is also located in Chicago, Cook,
Illinois. The Cook County (Illinois)
Criminal Justice System is the nation's largest unified court system. Each year
it processes and admits more than 100,000 people to the Cook County Department
of Corrections (CCDOC). One may question the relevance of a Supreme Court
Justice to the issue of the Hungry & Homeless. Rank charges us to see these
people in OUR daily lives. How does a Supreme Court Justice from a very
isolated community view the Hungry & Homeless. When asked for a definition
of justice, Theiss sought to answer in the ethical sense and stated that people
who work with her call her by her name - Justice! This was a statement grounded
in humility rather than arrogance. Theiss offered that the law must be decided
in a state of justice- that state being that righteousness and mercy
are commingled. A knowledge of the persons that these decisions are to
affect are not of strictly the elite in their business contracts. A working
knowledge of all persons is needed. That knowledge does not come from residing
in Barrington, IL, going to work, and driving back to the same location and
socializing with the same people or people like them. They must know people in
a multicultural setting and through our personal life cycle. She has been a
Public Defender, Circuit Court Judge, Appellate Court Judge, and now
sits on the Supreme Court. The strongest message that has been communicated to
her is that people want and deserve a chance to be heard. It reminds me that I
must listen to people and hear what they are saying, not only people that I
agree with but especially those that I don't! Those that make my blood boil by
their very message. She instructed us that we must investigate what people are
running for judicial office and not strictly choose along party lines or the
ethnicity of their last names. She is running for office this year. She deserves
our vote simply because she wears her name very well- Justice.
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