Ed Underhill—who lives with his husband, Liam, and their dog, Finn, in Bucktown—is running against Anna Loftus and Carlos Claudio in a tight judicial race.
Underhill is a trial attorney with 30 years of experience, and feels that he's the best candidate to be judge of the Sixth Judicial Subcircuit of the Circuit Court of Cook County. He discussed his qualifications, hate crimes—and his writing.
Windy City Times: What made you decide to run?
Ed Underhill: I live in Bucktown, and I love our neighborhoods. I think our neighborhoods are hungry for good quality judges—but they need to be judges who reflect the values of the neighborhoods, and who understand the needs and wants of the neighborhoods. I know lots of judges who live in the suburbs—but what do they know about the city? They come from Arlington Heights, drive along the Kennedy and park under the Daley Center. So I thought I'd better find someone who could run for judge. I couldn't find anyone, so I thought I better do it myself.
WCT: How does a judge, who's supposed to be impartial, represent the concerns of an area?
EU: That's an important question. It's really a raised sensitivity. For example, what's gang conduct or activity? It's about recognizing a hate crime when it does or doesn't exist. I think, at some level, you have to come from the city to understand what's going on [there].
WCT: What's your biggest strength and your biggest weakness in this race?
EU: My biggest strength is that I genuinely know the neighborhoods that make up the Sixth Subcircuit. I've lived in Bucktown for 14 years and I've been in the city most of my life—I can't stress that enough; it makes a big difference.
I'd say my biggest weakness is that I haven't run for office before. It's a constant learning experience; it's been a lot more fun than I imagined.
WCT: Fun? You're the first candidate I've heard use that word in a while.
EU: Oh, yeah. No one likes the part about raising money, but the other parts of it I really like. I enjoy knocking on doors and talking with people to find out what their concerns are. In that sense, I've learned so much more than I did when I started.
If you want to run for office, there's one thing I've learned: Democracy in Chicago starts with [literally] opening gates. You've got to reach out and learn how to unlatch those gates. [Smiles]
WCT: On our questionnaire, you said there are areas under the law in which the LGBT demographic is deprived. Which ones do you mean?
EU: I do think there are very few openly gay judges, and that has a negative impact on the application of law in Cook County. For example, [regarding] hate crimes; there's a more subtle impact in areas like probate law. Only recently has gay marriage become law; the number-one issue is probably that gay spouses are not treated like [others]. Gay marriage hasn't been around that long; we're going to see how issues play out over the next couple of years. There are things on the civil as well as the criminal side of the law.
WCT: And there are legal issues regarding the transgender community as well—and it'll be interesting to see how those unfold.
EU: Yes. It seems to me, from what I've read, that Illinois is responding relatively well to [transgender] issues. There are things happening with schools. It'll be interesting to see how courts handle legal issues.
I participate in a program called From the Courtroom to the Classroom that introduces kids to constitutional rights. One of the points that I stress to them is that your constitutional rights have to be fought for all the time; they're not to be taken for granted. Some of the most important cases ever involve holding back rights. If you don't actively advance your constitutional rights, they'll fall back. You can already see that some of the presidential candidates would love to see gay rights somewhat limited.
WCT: Also on the questionnaire, you wrote that it's necessary to, essentially, "come out every day."
EU: Yes; it's important that there are gay leaders in every community—whether it's the legal community, the arts community or any other. We cannot fall back. We have to be advocates for gay rights and for rights of all minorities. Lawyers, better than anyone else, can understand that rights are not guaranteed.
WCT: Do you believe a judge can also be an activist?
EU: I do—but not while the judge is on the bench. While on the bench, the judge must be objective in applying the law. When you're not on the bench, though, there are a lot of things a judge can do to advance social justice.
WCT: You're also a writer as well as an attorney. What are you working on right now?
EU: Right now, I'm working on a book called Abraham Lincoln: Chicago Lawyer. A lot of people don't know that Abraham Lincoln's most important cases were tried in Chicago. The primary reason people don't know is because Chicago burned to the ground in 1871—and the records of his cases burned as well.
For more information, see EdUnderhillForJudge.com .
