This time, we’re reviewing the civil cases from the Fourth District reviewed by the Supreme Court in the first third of this decade, from 2020 to 2022-to-date.
Spoiler alert: there weren’t many.  The Court reviewed one civil case from Adams County in 2020.  In 2021, the Court decided one case from McLean and one from Sangamon.  So far in 2022, the Court has decided one case from McLean County.
Image courtesy of Flickr by Matt Turner (no changes).
Continue Reading Where Did the Fourth District Civil Cases Reviewed by the Supreme Court Originate (Part 4 – 2020-2022)

This time, we’re wrapping up this multi-part post, reviewing the trial court data for the civil cases from the Fifth District between 2020 and 2022.
The Court has decided eleven cases since the beginning of 2020.  In 2020, there were two cases from Madison County and one each from Williamson, Effingham, Randolph and Franklin.  In 2021, there were two cases from St. Clair County and one each from Hamilton and Madison.  So far in 2022, the Court has only decided one case from St. Clair County.

Join us back here next time as we turn our attention to a new…
Continue Reading Where Did the Fifth District Civil Cases Reviewed by the Supreme Court Originate (Part 4, 2020-2022)

This week, we’re concluding our series tracing the origin of the civil cases reviewed by the Supreme Court, District by District, since 1990.
First, we look at the population distribution for the counties that produced cases in the just-ended decade.  DuPage County is at 30.67%.  Lake County accounts for 23.49%.  Kane is 16.98%, McHenry is 10.2% and Winnebago County is 9.38%.  The remaining counties which produced cases – Kendall, Henry, Stephenson, Lee and Jo Daviess – were all much smaller than Winnebago.

The distribution of civil cases over the past decade has more-or-less followed this population distribution.  DuPage had cases…
Continue Reading Where Do the Civil Cases Reviewed By the Supreme Court From the Second District Originate (Part 3 – 2010-2019)

This time, we’re looking at the Third District docket of Supreme Court cases.
Will County dominates the Third in population, with nearly four times the population of the next biggest county according to the 2020 census.  Will has 47.82%.  Peoria has 12.49% of the population among counties which produced cases.  Rock Island County was 9.93%, Tazewell was 9.02% and LaSalle County was 7.53%.  The remaining counties are all far smaller, with populations of 60,000 or less – Whiteside, Grundy, Knox, Warren, Marshall and Putnam.

Of course, Will and Peoria County accounted for most of the cases coming out of the…
Continue Reading Where Do the Civil Cases Reviewed By the Supreme Court From the Third District Originate (Part 3 – 2010-2019)

According to the 2020 census, McLean County had 24.18% of the population scattered among the Fourth District counties which produced civil cases for the Supreme Court’s docket between 2010 and 2019.  Sangamon had 23.06%, McLean had 20.08%, Macon County had 12.21%, Vermillion County had 8.71%, Macoupin was 5.28% and Woodford County was 4.52%.  Piatt was the smallest county producing cases, with only 1.96%.

Sangamon County nevertheless accounted for most of the civil cases – 18 cases in eight of the ten years of the decade.  Champaign County had eight cases.  Macoupin produced four.  McLean, Vermillion and Macon counties had two…
Continue Reading Where Do the Civil Cases Reviewed By the Supreme Court From the Fourth District Originate (Part 3 – 2010-2019)

Madison and St. Clair counties account for well over half of the population of the Fifth District counties which produced cases in the past decade – 29.09% in Madison, 28.17% in St. Clair.  Williamson was 7.35%, Jackson had 5.8%, Franklin was 4.14%, Marion was 4.13% and Jefferson County had 4.06%.  Clinton County accounted for 4.04%.  Effingham had 3.79%.  Saline County was 2.6%, Crawford had 2.04%, Richland County was 1.73%, Massac had 1.55% and Washington County accounted for 1.51%.

Madison County produced eight cases during the decade.  St. Clair had seven cases.  Marion County accounted for four cases.  Jackson had three,…
Continue Reading Where Do the Civil Cases Reviewed By the Supreme Court From the Fifth District Originate (Part 3 – 2010-2019)

For our second decade, we once again begin by reviewing the population distribution among the counties that produced cases between 2000 and 2009.
St. Clair and Madison counties were separated by only about 800 people in the 2010 census – St. Clair was 25.58% of the population in the District and Madison was 25.51%.  Williamson County was next at 6.29%, followed by Jackson County at 5.7%.  Six additional counties were barely over 3% – Franklin (3.75%), Marion (3.74%), Jefferson (3.68%), Christian (3.3%), Randolph (3.17%) and Monroe counties (3.12%).  Eight more counties were less than 3% of the District population (which…
Continue Reading Where Do the Civil Cases From the Fifth District Reviewed by the Supreme Court Originate (2000-2009)

The Fourth District population is much more evenly distributed than the Third District is.  Champaign County is 20.25%.  Sangamon, home of the state capitol, is 19.89%.  McLean County accounts for 17.99% and Macon County is 11.16%.  Vermillion County accounts for 8.22%, Adams is 6.76% and Coles County is 5.43%.  The remaining counties are substantially smaller.

Sangamon County had by far the most cases in the District for this decade, accounting for 18 cases.  Champaign and McLean counties had eight cases each.  Macon  County produced four cases.  Vermillion and Adams County had three cases, Edgar County had two and eight remaining…
Continue Reading Where Do the Civil Cases From the Fourth District Reviewed by the Supreme Court Originate (2000-2009)

Our next data set is the civil cases between 2000 and 2009 from the Third District.
Will County is by far the biggest county in the Third, with 43.25% of the population among the counties which contributed cases in this decade.  Peoria County accounted for 11.91%.  Rock Island was 9.42% and Tazewell was 8.64%.  LaSalle and Kankakee counties were only 500 people apart in the 2010 census – 7.27% for LaSalle, 7.24% for Kankakee.

Turning to the case distribution, Will came closest to contributing at least one civil case to the Supreme Court each year, finishing the decade with 14…
Continue Reading Where Do the Civil Cases From the Third District Reviewed by the Supreme Court Originate (2000-2009)

Finally, we come to the Fifth District, the largest District in terms of the total number of counties covered (18) and the next-to-smallest District by population, only a few thousand residents ahead of the Fourth District.  St. Clair and Madison counties dominate the Fifth.  Although they have over a half million residents between them, the 2000 population of the two counties only varied by a couple thousand people.  So Madison County accounts to 23.7% of the Fifth District population, and St. Clair is 23.44%.  Only one other County – Macon – is in double figures, with 10.5%.  The remaining counties…
Continue Reading Where Do the Civil Cases Reviewed by the Supreme Court From the Fifth District Originate (Part 1 – 1990-1999)

This time, we’re reviewing the geographic distribution of civil cases from the Fourth District during the 1990s.
The Fourth District has the largest number of counties of the three Districts we’ve reviewed so far – sixteen during this decade – but the lowest population, 440,000 less than the Third District and more than one and three quarters million less than the Second.  The population is also a bit more distributed.  Four counties have more than ten percent of the Fourth’s total population: Sangamon (18.53%), Champaign (17.62%), McLean (14.75%) and Macon counties (11.25%).  Vermilion County has 8.23% of the population, Adams…
Continue Reading Where Do the Civil Cases Reviewed by the Supreme Court From the Fourth District Originate (Part 1 – 1990-1999)

With this post, we’re reviewing the distribution of civil cases from the Third District for the years 1990 through 1999.  First, let’s look at the population distribution.
As of the 2000 census, the Third District was large geographically – encompassing fifteen counties – but small by population (only half the Second District).  Will County accounted for 34.38% of the Third District’s population.  Peoria had 12.55% and Rock Island was 10.22%, but all the other counties were below ten percent (led by Tazewell at 8.79%, LaSalle at 7.63% and Kankakee county at 7.11%).

We commented yesterday that there’s no particular reason…
Continue Reading Where Do the Civil Cases Reviewed by the Supreme Court From the Third District Originate (Part 1 – 1990-1999)