Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. will hold a 10:30 a.m. press conference Saturday, November 26th, at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, 930 E. 50th St., to honor Circuit Cook County Judge Arnette Hubbard, a trailblazing legal scholar, who is retiring.
Joining Rev. Jackson will be Bishop Tavis Grant, acting executive director for the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, judges, and other supporters. Rev. Jackson praised Judge Hubbard for breaking the glass ceiling for women so many times and for her community involvement.
Having known Judge Hubbard for more than 25 years, Bishop Grant said, “Many of those who serve on the bench are untouchable, unreachable and somewhat standoffish, but she has been a real pillar in our community. She has been accessible, visible and engaged in what is happening in our community.”
Bishop Grant said Judge Hubbard has “the common spirit and touch” that makes her so very special. “She has held so many first-time positions as a woman and an African American and landmark accomplishments that we thought it would be most befitting to celebrate her for her iconic figure in the judiciary.”
Judge Hubbard first became a lawyer in 1969 when only three percent of American lawyers were women. She received her law degree from the John Marshall Law School and after spending 28 years as a lawyer, she became a judge.
Judge Hubbard credits her grandfather for planting the seed in her mind about becoming a lawyer when he said one day, “It’s a shame what they did to Plessy.” She later learned he was talking about the 1896 U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine.
