Asked whether he considered himself liberal or conservative in his judicial role, Gordon responded, “I don’t think that the terms ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’ really apply to a judge. A judge is somebody who follows the law and decides a case based on the evidence presented. I’m sitting in cases involving civil matters. There, a trial judge simply follows the law. The application of the law should be uniform between judges regardless of their political attitudes.”
That said, when he sat on the bench in criminal court, he was, in his words, “very tough.”
“I was particularly disturbed by violent crimes, by repeat offenders, especially in traffic court cases where people continued to drive under the influence of liquor and injured people even after they had been convicted of the same offense before,” Gordon said. “Many times, I gave stiff jail sentences. If you were classify me in those areas, I guess I’d be less lenient than most.”
Gordon spoke about the judicial selection process in the State of Illinois, and especially in Cook County, where more than 350 men and women serve the citizens of the area from various branches of the Circuit Court. Next March, there will be another primary election where candidates will run “against their records” for retention as judges. Bob Gordon will be among those seeking retention.
“I’d like to see judges selected more on a merit basis,” he said, “But what I don’t know is whose merit it should be.”
Who in the public can know which candidate is best suited to be a judge?
“That’s the problem. The public doesn’t know. They have to decide who should be a judge from his record, what the Bar Association says about him and what the newspapers say about him. There’s discussion among people in the legal field as to who should make the selections: the supreme court, the Bar Association committees, or some sort of merit board. Politics plays in every stage of the process and in every organization that’s involved. This is the problem. But, there has to be some sort of merit selection process.”
Gordon was upbeat regarding the state of the jury system. “The system is completely different now than it was when I started practicing. Then, prospective jurors had a tendency to try to get out of serving based on who they ‘knew.’ Today, it doesn’t make a difference as to who you know—everybody has to go when they’re summoned. That includes judges and people in the legislature. Everybody I know goes now.’
The lifelong Chicagoan graduated from Roosevelt High School in Chicago, then went on to the University of Illinois and DePaul University Law School. He was admitted to the bar in 1962 and practiced privately as both a civil and criminal lawyer for 34 years before being appointed to a judgeship by the Illinois Supreme Court.
When the judge is away from his courtroom, he’s an avid sports fan. Married for 40 years, he has six grandchildren, the oldest of whom is fourteen.
“I watch them when they’re involved in school activities and at sporting events,” he said. “I have a lot of hobbies, I read a lot, I jog, and I particularly enjoy baseball. A few months ago I attended the Randy Hundley Fantasy [baseball] camp for the eighth or ninth time. I had to give up softball when I turned 58. When I was in private practice, I represented many sports figures and I still keep in contact with them.”
He also enjoys theater and is very much into music from the ‘50’s and the ‘60’s, saying he once played a trumpet in a band.
With that sort of background and his family’s involvement in his career, Bob Gordon is presenting himself to the voters of Cook County for retention as a Judge. Here’s a case where you can be the judge when you step into the voting booth.
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