Democratic Bosses Back 'Not Qualified' Candidate For Cook County Judge
SKOKIE, IL — A legal showdown that spans the borders between Chicago and the suburbs is underway heading into Tuesday’s Democratic Party primary election with a pair of northwest side residents hoping to become judges.
In the 10th judicial subcircuit, James Murphy, a longtime prosecutor who resigned in protest of his former boss, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, is squaring off against Liam Kelly, the president of the 39th Ward Democratic Organization, who has unsuccessfully run for the bench in the past.
Kelly has picked up the endorsements of more local elected officials, but at least five bar associations rate him either “not qualified” or “not recommended.”
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Meanwhile, Murphy has been found “qualified” or “recommended” by every evaluating bar association but touts endorsements from more unions than elected Democrats.
Murphy, 51, worked as an assistant state’s attorney right out of law school in 1998, working his way up to supervisor positions. He said he has tried more than 80 jury trials, including more than 40 for murder, and “hundreds and hundreds” of other trials.
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“I know how to effectively, efficiently, and most importantly, fairly run a court call. Each day I was called upon to make decisions that affected people’s lives,” Murphy says on his website. “I’ve seen firsthand the impact that a judge can have on our community. I want to use my experience and compassion to make a positive impact.”
While leading the preliminary hearing, central bond court, grand jury and Chicago homicide/sex units for Foxx’s office, Murphy was briefly put on administrative leave during an investigation of his comments at an April 10, 2021, bond hearing for the man charged with firing the gun that led to the chase and fatal police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, who Murphy said had been holding a gun. Body camera footage would later reveal Toledo had dropped the gun before Officer Eric Stillman shot him.
An investigation by the state’s attorney’s office led to Murphy’s reinstatement and the resignation of the head of its division that investigates police shooting cases. Murphy, who was also cleared by the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, told Injustice Watch that the incident gave me the perspective of knowing “what it’s like to be accused of something I didn’t do.”
Murphy quit the state’s attorney’s office in July 2022, departing with a scathing letter to his co-workers declaring that he could no longer work for an administration that he no longer respected and criticizing the failure of the office to focus resources on effectively fighting violent crime.
“I’ve seen it day after day. How many mass shootings do there have to be before something is done?” he said. “This Administration is more concerned with political narratives and agendas than with victims and prosecuting violent crime. That is why I can’t stay any longer.”
After departing Foxx’s office, Murphy joined the firm of Grace, Gottreich, Levinsohn & Thompson, working on criminal defense, civil and administrative law.
Kelly, 42, graduated law school in 2011 and began as an associate attorney for Donald Angelini’s law office, before working for The Rooth Law Firm, Villalobos and Associates, Robert Louis Rascia and Greenberg and Associates over the subsequent decade. This January, he started working at the Illinois Office of the State Appellate Defender. He previously ran for judge in the March 2020 primary in the same subcircuit, coming in fourth out of five candidates.
In a brief campaign video, Kelly said he would “do anything” to make sure his local Northwest Side park remains safe for kids.
“I am doing this for my children and I am doing this for your children,” Kelly says. “Because I have the courage and energy to make a difference in our legal system, and justice can’t wait.”
Kelly was the president of Chicago 39th Ward Democratic Organization for two terms, from 2017 to 2023, and he touts an extensive list of endorsements from local elected Democrats. They include Cook County Board President and Democratic Party boss Toni Preckwinkle, local members of Congress Jan Schakowsky and Mike Quigley, State Senator and 39th Ward Committeeperson Ram Villivalam, State Rep. Kevin Olickal and Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss.
“Now more than ever, it’s clear that good judges are vital to our society and our democracy,” Schakowsky said, in a statement vouching for Kelly’s progressive bona fides. “Liam is exactly the kind of person we need in the judiciary.”
Although Kelly’s website says “recommended by bar associations” and “evaluated and rated ‘qualified,'” he was actually rated “not qualified” or “not recommended” by five different local bar associations — the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago Area, the Chicago Bar Association, the Hispanic Lawyers Association, Chicago’s LGBTQ+ Bar Association and the Illinois State Bar Association, or ISBA.
“Attorneys contacted during the investigation spoke positively of his temperament and sensitivity,” according to ISBA’s evaluations, “most described his legal knowledge as adequate, though concerns were raised over his lack of experience as a lead attorney with jury trials and complex litigation, and some criticized his overall analytical ability and limited practice and experience. “
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