By David Whelan

High Hope
Advocate for the poor brings new voice to highest court in the land of Lincoln

Seven justices sit on the Illinois Supreme Court. Before becoming justices, six of them were appellate or circuit judges. Four have been trying cases for more than a quarter-century – the other two since the 1980s.

Now meet Thomas Kilbride, Justice No. 7. 

This December, Justice Kilbride will celebrate his second anniversary as a member of the highest court in the land of Lincoln. It will also mark his second anniversary as a judge, period. Two years ago, the small-town lawyer from northwest Illinois entered the race for the 3rd Judicial District seat on the Illinois Supreme Court. He had never held judicial or legislative office. Kilbride’s credentials consisted of two decades representing low-income clients, as a staff attorney for Prairie State Legal Services and a solo practitioner specializing in child abuse and juvenile justice cases.

The contrast with his well-heeled opponent, State Senate Judiciary Chairman Carl Hawkinson, could not have been starker, nor Kilbride’s chances seemingly more remote. Hawkinson was a powerful state official with a Harvard Law pedigree, more than a half-million dollars in his campaign coffers, and a strong base of Republican support in a district that had not voted for a Democrat since Illinois began electing its Supreme Court justices in 1970. 

So when Kilbride prevailed in the 2000 race with 52 percent of the vote, the political pundits were stunned. “When Kilbride originally filed to run, people assumed that if the election was left to its own devices, Hawkinson could have just mailed it in,” says Kent Redfield, a political studies professor at the University of Illinois. “Kilbride’s victory surprised everyone.”

Perhaps it shouldn’t have, though. As Redfield points out, it was Kilbride who actually outraised his opponent, quietly amassing a war chest of $850,000. And whereas most legal services advocates spend long careers working for low pay and little recognition, Kilbride’s passionate speeches about his public interest work helped win him the election. Under Illinois law, candidates for judicial office cannot run on an issues-based platform like politicians; they must craft a general message that embodies their professional experiences or general judicial outlook. In Kilbride’s case, that meant stumping about legal aid work. “He’s always been a legal services guy,” says Prairie State Legal Services Director Joe Dailing, who hired Kilbride out of law school more than 20 years ago. “He never backed away, never tried to soft-pedal his beliefs. Some lawyers will say, ‘I was young and worked at legal services.’ Tom has never tried to downplay it.” 

“I’m not a politician,” Kilbride says. “People wanted a fresh vote on the court.”

Since joining the Court, Kilbride has had no problem earning the respect of his colleagues. At his swearing-in, Illinois Chief Justice Moses Harrison joked that Kilbride had more actual legal experience than the rest of the justices combined. His seven years as a staff attorney at Prairie State were  followed by years of courtroom successes in his “meat and potatoes practice” handling a wide variety of small lawsuits. Kilbride’s home turf is the Quad Cities area of northwest Illinois, which sits across the river from Davenport, Iowa. The area includes Rock Island, population 40,000, where he operated his successful one-man practice in a town known as the “farm implement capital of America.” (John Deere, Caterpillar, Farmall, and Case Tractors employ many locals.)

While America has closely followed the Illinois Supreme Court’s review of death penalty cases – the Governor issued a moratorium on executions in the state in January 2000 – Kilbride feels his past work on social justice issues gives him a unique perspective to make informed decisions from the bench. “I see the raw human emotions,” he says. “I feel the tension.” 

A 1981 graduate of Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C., Kilbride looked only for legal aid jobs upon completing his legal studies. He found that job at Prairie State Legal Services during a time when a recession had driven the Quad Cities’ unemployment rate well into the double digits. Much of Kilbride’s early work focused on helping laid-off workers collect unemployment benefits while avoiding foreclosures on their homes. Carol Pentuic, one of his colleagues in those early years, recalls an idealistic young attorney who truly cared about his clients. “There are people who go into legal services because they fall into it,” she says. “Tom had the calling.”

Yet it was his work before law school that foreshadowed his success in electoral politics. In 1972, Kilbride withdrew from Illinois State University to work for George McGovern’s presidential campaign. After Nixon’s victory, Kilbride stayed in Chicago to work for the United Farm Workers before moving to San Diego for three years to help organize local unions there. He orchestrated a “house meeting campaign,” in which union members would invite potential members into their homes. The campaign blossomed like a chain letter, as house-meeting guests became hosts and new members joined by the hundreds. “It was the most thorough UFW campaign ever in San Diego,” recalls Scott Washburn, a fellow union organizer who now works for the Service Employees International Union.

Kilbride remembers meeting Cesar Chavez, calling him “one tough hombre.” But his greatest admiration is reserved for the UFW lawyers who helped inspire his career path. “Tom was such a fabulous organizer that I’m sorry he picked the legal track, though I suppose he’s done all right for himself,” Washburn deadpans. 

Kilbride’s organizing skills paid big dividends in his run for the state high court. His network of friends in legal services catalyzed a grassroots campaign that helped emphasize the difference between him and his opponent, a polished career politician with Ivy League  credentials. Many of his former colleagues volunteered, as did fellow parishioners at his church, his large Irish family, and even some of his clients. 

Today, Kilbride rewards their loyalty by staying true to his roots. He is the Supreme Court’s liaison to the Lawyer’s Trust Fund, the primary state support mechanism for legal services. He also recently took over as head of the court’s pro bono committee. Kilbride regularly speaks at pre-law societies and law-school graduations and also advises attorneys weighing careers in public interest law. 

As for his own future plans, Kilbride, 49, is a young judge who has come to savor the view from his current seat. “I have a 10-year term,” he notes. “So I will be here at least until I am 59.”