Diverse Justices Set to Shift Illinois Supreme Court’s Direction

An Illinois Supreme Court with more women, Democratic, and Black jurists could invigorate a traditionally cautious court into one unafraid to alter state laws, including reversing court precedence, lawyers and academics said.

The new makeup of the court is just a year old, and the panel has already upheld gun restrictions and agreed with judges who ruled to detain suspects under the nation’s first no-cash bail law.

Last year, Lisa Holder White (R), Joy Cunningham (D), Mary K. O’Brien (D), and Elizabeth Rochford (D) began their first full terms on the bench, marking the first female majority in the court’s ...