Sheryl Pethers' win in the heavily contested Democratic primary for Cook County's 8th Judicial Subcircuit race earlier this year was distinctive for a couple of reasons. First, because she has no Republican opponent in the Nov. 2 elections, she will become the first open lesbian to be elected to the bench in Illinois (others have been appointed). Second, she won the primary by only 53 votes out of 40,000 cast—and two of her opponents were gay men (a third gay man dropped out before the primary).
Windy City Times caught up with Pethers as she was wrapping up business at the law firm of Swanson, Martin & Bell. She talked about everything from the importance of voting to going to school with film director (and Bush nemesis) Michael Moore.
Windy City Times: Do you have mixed feelings about leaving the firm?
Sheryl Pethers: I do. It's really bittersweet. I will not miss filling out time sheets and keeping track of my life in six-minute segments—but I really will miss the place. I worked here for a dozen years.
WCT: What type of litigation did you practice?
SP: I did civil litigation, mostly on the defense side. There were a lot of medical malpractice, product liability, and premises liability cases.
WCT: Could you give me a brief biographical sketch of yourself?
SP: Sure. I grew up in Flint, Michigan—and graduated from high school with Michael Moore. I knew him then.
WCT: No! What was he like?
SP: Remember that this was the early to mid-'70s, so Michael had frizzy hair that went all the way down to his rear end. He looked like an exceptionally homely Janis Joplin. He had this hunched back, sunken eyes, and a hooked nose. He was a pretty odd character who wasn't very popular. However, he was on the debate team and was brilliant. He ran for the school board the year we graduated and won, so he was this 18-year-old kid on the board. He started raising hell at that point.
I went to law school at IIT-Chicago Kent; I graduated in 1991. Before that, though, I was a newspaper reporter for eight years at places like The Indianapolis Star.
WCT: When did you fall in love with law?
SP: Toward the end of my journalism career, I covered courts. I followed trials and got pretty involved. I watched the attorneys and thought, 'I could do that.' So I went to law school.
Before [being a journalist], I went to graduate school and got a Masters in journalism and political science. It was a really easy transition from journalism to law; there's so much writing involved in each. It's not like [it's portrayed on] TV; lawyers aren't in court all the time.
WCT: What types of cases will you preside over as judge?
SP: Most likely I'll be sent to traffic court, like every newly elected judge. I'm looking forward to it.
Being a traffic court judge is not a career aspiration. However, I've heard that it's a good training ground. It's very useful for helping you make the transition from attorney to judge. I'm used to being an advocate for one side or the other. This is something entirely new, where you have to be impartial. One judge told me that it's not a question of 'if' you make a mistake, but 'when' you make one—and at least it's [just] someone's traffic ticket.
WCT: Now let me mention that political race you were in ...
SP: It was so tight! It doesn't get any closer than that, does it? The irony was that my campaign slogan was 'Judges matter; your vote counts.' I don't think I even believed how true that [would be]. [Laughs]
I would talk about how important it is to cast ballots in the judicial races. Judges are always put down at the bottom the ballot and lots of people only vote the top of the ticket. I even pointed out the 2000 [presidential] election. If you don't think judges are important ... judges actually decided that election. People came up to me after the election and said that they remembered me talking about how important voting is.
One vote can make all the difference. It did in my race and has in many other elections.
WCT: Was waiting for the official results the most excruciating part of your race?
SP: I enjoyed every moment of the race, but there were plenty of excruciating moments. However, [the time after the election] was full of anxiety. I came out of election night about 50 votes ahead, but there were all of those provisional ballots to deal with—and I wasn't certain of the results for two weeks after that. Even after that, I waited to see if there would be a formal recount or challenge.
WCT: Did you feel that being lesbian would be a factor in your race?
SP: Yes, and it was an issue in a way. There were plenty of judicial races in the county—but our race had the most media attention. I was called by the Chicago Sun-Times, The Chicago Lawyer, The Law Bulletin, and even Crain's Chicago Business because there were three gay and lesbian candidates in the race. [The gay angle] was quite a hook for them.
Beyond that, I think [being a lesbian] was helpful to my campaign. My father found out that I mentioned my lesbianism on my Web site. He called and asked me if that was a good idea. I told him that, in my neighborhood, it's a plus—and I believe it was.
WCT: What does justice mean to you?
SP: Oh my! [Pauses] For me, justice means having your voice heard by someone who is fair and impartial.
