A month after the first Black female justice was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, similar history is being made on Illinois’ highest court.
Fourth District Appellate Justice Lisa Holder White was named Tuesday to replace Justice Rita Garman on the Illinois Supreme Court, becoming its first Black female justice. Garman, 78, on Monday announced she’s retiring on July 7, and Holder White will take her place on the bench the next day, the court said.
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Firsts are nothing new for the 54-year-old jurist, who was both the first Black judge in central Illinois’ 6th Judicial Circuit and the state’s 4th District Appellate Court in Springfield.
“In the past, many Blacks have not had the opportunities that I’ve had, the opportunity to get my education, to get a law degree, to work as an attorney, to serve as a judge,” Holder White, who was born and raised in Decatur, said in an interview.
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“I’m grateful. And this is important not just for the Black community but for the community as a whole,” she said. “It shows the importance and value of coming together and helping each other.”
Holder White, like Garman, is a Republican, so the court will maintain a 4-3 Democratic majority. Both women have been trailblazers in the Illinois judiciary.
Holder White’s appointment follows the Senate confirmation on April 7 of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Holder White said, as a justice, she “didn’t really take a position” on Jackson’s nomination to the high court, but noted it was “historic” and an “exciting time for the country to see the progress made.”
After earning her law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law in Urbana-Champaign, Holder White started her legal career as an assistant state’s attorney in Macon County. After working in private practice for several years, she was appointed as an associate judge in Illinois’ 6th Judicial Circuit.
She was sworn in by Garman, who had been appointed to the Illinois Supreme Court just a month earlier. Garman subsequently appointed Holder White to be a circuit judge in 2008 and to the appellate court in 2013.
Garman, who first donned judicial robes in 1973 and is the state’s longest serving judge, was only the second woman appointed to the state’s highest court two decades ago and later was the second woman to serve as chief justice.
By tradition in Illinois, the outgoing Supreme Court justice selects their replacement, who then still must be approved by the full court.
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“Justice Garman is a brilliant jurist and an exceptional human being,” Holder White said. “Since I first met her, she’s been an inspiration, a mentor and someone I admire in every way.”
In February, Holder White and the 4th District Appellate Court upheld a ruling that blocked Gov J.B. Pritzker’s executive orders mandating masks in schools.
In that decision, Holder White agreed in part with the ruling but argued the decision didn’t fully address the question of whether Pritzker had authority to issue the executive orders under the Illinois Emergency Management Act, and the lower court may not have properly prohibited enforcement of those orders.
Holder White declined to comment further on the decision, citing a code of judicial conduct.
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She serves on the state Supreme Court’s Judicial Conference Committee on Education, which is responsible for providing continuing education for Illinois judges. She is a member of the Illinois Judges Association, the Central Illinois Women’s Bar Association and the Decatur Bar Association.
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Garman was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 2001 and was then elected the following year. She was the court’s chief justice from 2013 to 2016.
The Danville resident would have faced a once-a-decade retention vote in November. Holder White will hold the seat until the 2024 election.
Garman’s departure comes amid some upheaval on the court, which in 2020 saw a sitting justice, Democrat Thomas Kilbride, rejected for retention by voters — the first time that’s happened since retention elections were adopted in 1964.
Last year, the Democratic-controlled legislature redrew a map of the state’s Supreme Court districts, which hadn’t been done since 1964. Lawmakers also instituted new campaign finance restrictions for those running for the bench, both efforts to maintain the Democrats’ 4-3 majority on the high court.
Holder White is the “exact right person” to serve on the supreme court, said Erika Harold, executive director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, created by the court to promote civility and inclusiveness in the profession.
In a time when “people’s confidence in our legal system and judicial system need to be reinforced,” Holder White brings empathy, thoughtfulness, leadership and thoroughness to the state’s highest court, said Harold, who was the Republican candidate for Illinois attorney general in 2018.
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“Justice Garman made such historic contributions in opening up doors and opportunities for women in the legal profession and the judiciary,” Harold said. “It’s only fitting to see another historic person take her place on the court.”
