Dupage Policy Journal

Judge Mary K. O’Brien, who is opposing Justice Michael Burke in an upcoming Illinois Supreme Court race, has critics questioning her credibility, as she's a Democrat known for coddling criminals with her history of overturning many serious criminal convictions.

Amid a high violent crime rate, the state's Republican Party is warning the public of the soft-on-crime judge.

"Madigan Machine Judge Mary K. O’Brien has a history of using the courtroom to coddle criminals," said Shaun McCabe, executive director of the Illinois Republican Party. "As Illinois grapples with the impending elimination of cash bail on January 1st, 2023, the last thing Illinois families need is a soft-on-crime judge on our state’s highest court. O’Brien might say nice things on television, but she has been a card-carrying member of the Madigan Machine who’s spent her judicial career putting criminals before crime victims and the safety of our communities.”

O’Brien has well-known deep ties to the so-called Madigan Machine, according to a September press release from the Illinois Republican Party. After a voting record that shows her voting for Madigan 93.6% of the time, O'Brien was appointed as an Appellate Court Justice during her final year in the Illinois General Assembly.

The Illinois Republican Party says that for decades, the most reliable way of being appointed judge was by receiving the stamp of approval from Mike Madigan, who controlled the Democratic Party, and Ed Burke, who ran the judicial slating committee, according to a Chicago Tribune article from April 2011, the Illinois GOP said.

As an Appellate Justice for the state of Illinois, O'Brien has overturned the convictions of some of the state's most heinous and violent criminals. Crimes overturned under her direction include murder convictions and numerous robbery, drug, and sexual assault convictions, the news release said.

In 2013, a man named Jesus Zambrano was convicted of murder for his role in a shooting. He was arrested while attempting to flee to Mexico, and later appealed his conviction on the grounds that he received “ineffective assistance of counsel”. In 2016, O’Brien’s court granted his appeal and ordered a retrial for Zambrano, later being found not guilty and thereby released. In 2021, however, the man was once again arrested, this time for shooting a man in the groin during an altercation, the news release stated.

As pointed out by the Illinois GOP, data shows O'Brien received over $200,000 in political contributions from Madigan-led political groups over the course of her career.

According to a 2022 report from SafeWise.com, Illinois saw higher violent crime rates last year at 4.3 incidents per 1,000, compared to 4.0 nationwide. This is the second-consecutive year violent crime rates in the state have risen and the third year Illinois has reported higher rates than both the East North Central region (3.9) and the US overall. According to Ballotpedia, incumbent Michael J. Burke (R) and Mary O'Brien (D) are running in the general election for Illinois Supreme Court 3rd District on Nov. 8.