Illinois’s attorney general is defending the removal of a temporary traffic court judge because he previously made comments critical of George Soros and illegal immigration.
Judge James Brown answered a call to return out of retirement in December 2025 due to a backlog of cases in the Cook County court system.
“According to the Illinois Supreme Court at the time, Brown’s temporary appointment was needed to help Cook County’s overburdened courts deal with a shortage of judges amid a crush of backlogged cases,” Legal Newsline reported. “However, in January 2026, the court suddenly decided to retract that assignment, amid a public pressure campaign mounted by Chicago Democrat lawyers.”
While local attorneys would presumably be concerned about their clients not getting a speedy trial, what bothered them the most was that Brown, in his private capacity as a retired judge, had made comments critical of leftism.
In a Sept. 2025 column, Brown wrote about a lengthy list of controversies since 2020, writing “American citizens have been senselessly murdered by illegal aliens,” “Several major cities defunded their police departments,” and “Biological men were allowed to participate in women’s sports and allowed to use their bathrooms and locker rooms.”
He wrote the essay for John Kass’s website, a former conservative Chicago Tribune columnist who was forced out of his job by the newspaper’s union.
The judge argued “judgement” was “coming,” presumably because President Donald Trump would be cleaning house and righting the ship.
He also criticized former Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, whom he called “Soros-funded.”
“Foxx deliberately ignored her oath of office,” he wrote. “Foxx refused to prosecute felony retail theft cases unless the value of the merchandise exceeded $1,000.00. Illinois law requires that the value of the stolen merchandise exceeds $300.00 to make it a felony.”
He also criticized her for botching an investigation into the Jussie Smollett hoax.
The judge also criticized a number of other prosecutors across the country whom he called “Soros-funded.”
This column upset the Cook County Bar Association and the Chicago Council of Lawyers, who successfully petitioned the Illinois Supreme Court to remove Brown.
According to Legal Newsline, “the organizations claimed Brown had demonstrated himself to be unfit to hear cases in Cook County due to bias.”
“The groups asserted the column was ‘wildly inappropriate for a member of the judiciary to be making’ and showed Brown lacked ‘the temperament, judgment, independence, competence, impartiality and respect for the rule of law necessary for those who serve in the judiciary,'” the news outlet reported.
Brown argues that he cannot be removed by the Illinois Supreme Court and that he has not been afforded due process, including a hearing. He is represented by the Liberty Justice Center.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul and the Illinois Supreme Court say that the federal courts should not get involved in the inner workings of their judicial system.
While there could certainly be concerns about bias if Brown were hearing lawsuits against Governor JB Pritzker or other Illinois Democrats, or if he were processing immigration cases, that is not the case here.
Rather, a traffic court judge is probably as far removed from politics as possible.
And of course, there is a double standard at play here, in favor of the Democrats.
As Legal Newsline reported, a sitting Illinois Supreme Court justice spoke at a fundraiser for a Lake County Democratic organization after being elected.
The website reported:
In September 2023, [Justice Elizabeth] Rochford also spoke at a political fundraiser in Lake County, appearing in her capacity as a new justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. The event supported the Lake County Women’s Political Action Committee, a group which explicitly declares it exists to elect female Democratic candidates to office in Lake County and elsewhere.
While she faced criticism, she remains on the bench.
“No public action has been taken by judicial regulators against Rochford stemming from her appearance at the political fundraiser,” Legal Newsline reported.
Rochford, along with Justice Mary O’Brien, also “accept[ed] millions of dollars in campaign donations from Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker: and “trumpeted endorsements from Democratic politicians and a variety of left-wing activist organizations,” during the 2022 election.
[Featured image courtesy of Liberty Justice Center]
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