Former Illinois Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis to Retire Jan. 29

Justice Mary Jane Theis, who served as chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court from 2022 to 2025, will retire from the court effective Jan. 29, the court announced Monday.

Illinois Appellate Court Justice Sanjay Tailor has been appointed to fill Theis’ vacancy, which will make him the high court’s first Asian-American justice.

Theis, the daughter of a Cook County judge, was a public defender before taking the Cook County bench herself in 1983. She served on the state appellate court beginning in 1993 and has been on the state Supreme Court since 2010. ...