Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis listens to remarks from the bench at the Illinois Supreme Court in Springfield. (Capitol News Illinois file photo)
Article Summary
- Illinois Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis announced she will retire from the court at the end of January following 15 years as a justice.
- Theis, a Democrat, served three years as chief justice, with her term as the head of the court ending in October 2025.
- Theis authored the majority opinion in the 2023 case that upheld the SAFE-T Act and allowed Illinois to eliminate cash bail.
- Cook County Appellate Court Justice Sanjay Tailor was appointed to replace Theis on the court.
This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis announced she will retire from the state’s high court later this month.
Theis, a Democrat from Chicago who represents the Cook County district on the court, said in a statement Monday she will vacate the bench Jan. 29 after first being appointed to the court in 2010.
“I am deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to serve,” Theis said in a statement. “It has been my foremost goal to further the Court’s mission of providing access to equal justice, ensuring judicial integrity and upholding the rule of law.”
Theis was elected to a full term in 2012 and appointed chief justice in 2022. Her term as head of the court ended last October when Chief Justice P. Scott Neville was appointed the new leader of the court.
Read more: P. Scott Neville Jr. chosen as next chief justice on Illinois Supreme Court
Theis played a role in several impactful decisions, including the Democratic-majority court’s ruling allowing Illinois to abolish cash bail in 2023.
Theis authored the majority opinion in favor of the controversial and pioneering law, which many opponents said violates the constitutional requirement that people charged with a crime receive bail. Theis wrote the state constitution does not require bail to be monetary and is not the only mechanism that can be used to ensure a person returns to court for trial. She noted the General Assembly amended the state’s bail laws many times over the years.
Read more: Cash bail will end in Illinois as justices rule SAFE-T Act provisions constitutional
“If the legislature could reconsider bail over the course of so many years, it could do so again in 2021 without offending separation of powers principles,” Theis wrote of the SAFE-T Act, which lawmakers passed in early 2021.
She argued the law creates a “presumption” in favor of pretrial release, meaning “the state bears the burden of establishing a defendant’s eligibility for pretrial detention.”
During Theis’ tenure as chief justice, the Supreme Court guided the implementation of the new cashless bail pretrial procedure in Illinois. The Supreme Court oversees the administration of the entire Illinois court system.
New justice to join the court
First District Appellate Court Justice Sanjay Tailor was appointed by the court to fill Theis’ vacancy on the seven-justice court beginning at the end of the month. Tailor will serve until at least December 2028, when Cook County voters will decide who will be given a full 10-year term on the bench.
Tailor has been a Cook County judge since 2003 and became an appellate court judge in 2022, according to a news release from the Supreme Court.
He previously worked as an assistant state’s attorney in Cook County and as a private attorney. Tailor will be the first Asian American on the Illinois Supreme Court.
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