November 02, 2004

One of the two most hotly contested judicial races in the country, from the standpoint of litigation reformers, is that between Democrat Gordon Maag and Republican Lloyd Karmeier for an Illinois Supreme Court seat representing a district in southern Illinois that includes famed heaven-for-plaintiffs Madison County. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has numbers; the race is still too early to call with 5 percent of precincts reporting, Karmeier has an edge. If you click on the "candidate biography" for Maag, you find that he adopts the protective coloration of a litigation reformer to the point where you'd hardly dream he was the one being backed by the high-rolling trial lawyers. The Illinois Civil Justice League is also following the race and is displaying different numbers which give Maag the edge. For more on the race, see Overlawyered, Mar. 20, Aug. 29, and Oct. 22. More: ICJL says Karmeier wins.