Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Anne Burke will retire from the bench later this year, court officials announced today.
Burke will retire at the end of November — a month after stepping down from her three-year rotation as the high court’s Chief Justice.
Replacing Burke as Chief Justice is Mary Jane Theis, who has served on the state Supreme Court since 2010.
And filling Burke’s vacancy on the court is Joy V. Cunningham, who will be the court’s second Black woman justice. The first was sworn in earlier this summer.
Justice Burke’s 16 years on the Illinois Supreme Court capped off a legal career she began late in life, at age 40.
Prior to law school, Burke co-founded what would later become the Special Olympics in the late 1960s.
Burke is the wife of indicted Chicago Alderman Ed Burke, who will stand trial on corruption charges next year.
