Jim Dey: A guaranteed win for Justice Lisa Holder White

Dec. 16—It's time once again to dive in to another round of quick takes on the people, places and events that were being talked about over the past week:

One on none

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lisa Holder White has got it in the bag?

What's that? A victory in her race for a 10-year term on from the high court's fourth district.

No Democrat filed to run against White, once a Macon County trial judge who was later elected to the appellate court. White was appointed to the high court in 2022 by now-retired Republican Justice Rita Garman.

It's unclear why no Democrat chose to challenge White, but it could be because Democrats gerrymandered the court's four geographic districts to ensure they would win a majority of the court's seven seats.

Districts 4 and 5 are considered Republican-dominated areas while Districts 2 and 3 were redrawn to ensure Democratic victories in the 2022 election. District 1 is made up of solidly Democratic Cook County, where three Democrats always have been elected.

The primary election is March 19, and the general election is Nov. 5.

On the Democratic side in District 1 (Cook County), appointed Justice Joy Cunningham is being challenged in the primary by Appellate Justice Jesse Reyes. Cunningham was appointed in 2022 by now-retired Justice Ann Burke.

The Cunningham/Reyes race is widely perceived as a battle between Black and Hispanic politicians in Cook County, and it's a repeat of a 2022 fight.

Hispanics have vehemently argued they are entitled to a seat on the court, but their requests have been ignored by Democratic Party power brokers in Cook County.

Reyes ran in 2022 in the Democratic primary against another appointed Black justice — P. Scott Neville Jr. — but was defeated.

Democratic gerrymandering of the state's Supreme Court districts worked as planned in 2022. They won the races in redrawn districts 2 and 3, increasing their majority from 4-3 to 5-2.

Legal freak show?

There's an unfortunate trend of accused criminals deciding they wish to represent themselves at trial.

It's a big mistake because they, mostly, have no idea what they're doing.

But the word "mistake" has taken on new and bigger implications in the scheduled February trial of Highland Park mass shooter Robert Crimo III.

The 23-year-old told Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti this week that he had dismissed his court-appointed lawyers and would act as his own lawyer.

The Chicago Tribune reported that the judge "extensively admonished" Crimo over his decision. That means she tried desperately to talk him out of his self-destructive, bordering on crazy, decision.

Defendants have an absolute right to represent themselves in court. So the judge's efforts were limited and, ultimately, unsuccessful.

This case is not exactly a whodunit. Crimo III is charged with more than 100 felonies in connection with the July 4, 2022, mass shooting at the Highland Park July 4 parade.

Seven people were killed and dozens wounded. Crimo III was taken into custody shortly afterward, and his behavior in jail has been, intermittently, bizarre.

Given the facts implicating Crimo, it's not clear what defense would be viable other than to argue insanity.

Now that Crimo III is his own lawyer, what transpires in the courtroom, most likely, will be bizarre.

In related news, Crimo's father was released from jail this week after serving a brief stint behind bars. He was initially charged with felony counts of reckless conduct for sponsoring his then-underage son's application for a Firearm Owner's Identification Card (FOID) two years before the mass shooting.

Crimo II eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and was sentenced Nov. 15 to 60 days in jail and 100 hours of public service work. He was released early for good behavior.

Who 'dat?

Football fans may not remember much about former Big 10 head football coach Jerry Kill. But he's doing a bang-up job at New Mexico State, previously a gridiron version of the Gobi Desert.

Kill this year led the Aggies to their first 10-win season in 63 years. The Washington Post recently wrote that Kill "had a resoundingly successful season for a program that's usually among the nation's worst."

Who is Kill again?

He's the 62-year-old former University of Minnesota head coach who was forced to leave there in 2015 for health reasons, specifically seizures attributed to epilepsy. But he couldn't stay away from the game, working with football coaches and in administration at various schools, including Kansas State, Rutgers, Virginia Tech and Texas Christian before taking the head job at NMSU.

His teams at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and Northern Illinois University were big winners from 2001 to 2010, leading to his taking over at Minnesota in 2011.

His overall record as a head coach is 175-114. He signed a five-year contract as NMSU in 2022 and has led his team to bowl games in each of his first two years.

NMSU plays Fresno State Saturday (today) in the New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque, N.M.

Historical footnote

A former Fighting Illini is playing a bit role in the history-making litigation involving former President Donald Trump.

Federal appeals court Justice Patricia Millett was the author of a recent court decision that partly upheld and partly reversed a lower court judge's order gagging Trump.

The 60-year-old Millett, who is from Southern Illinois and is a 1985 UI graduate, wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel. They found the trial judge's order limiting Trump's speech "sweeps in more protected speech than is necessary."

But it upheld prohibitions against Trump from making public statements about witnesses, lawyers in the case and members of the court's staff.

Millett, a graduate of Harvard law school, argued 32 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court before being appointed to the federal bench by President Obama.

Rest in peace

Those who pay close attention to the obituaries may have noted the Dec. 10 passing of Marjorie Sodemann, once a leading local citizen in Champaign County.

She died at the Meadowbrook Health Center in Urbana at age 97.

Over the years, Sodemann was involved in many public and political endeavors. That included serving as an member of the Champaign County Board and supervisor of Champaign Township.

Her highest profile positions came when she was chairwoman of the Champaign County Republican Party and a member of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.

But Sodemann also involved herself in many non-partisan activities including the Junior League and the Civic Symphony Guild.

Always pleasant and thoughtful, she helped her late husband, George Sodemann, build his successful engineering firm and rear their four children.