May 11, 2022 – Fourth District Appellate Justice Lisa Holder White of Decatur has been appointed to fill the seat of retiring Justice Rita B. Garman.
Justice Garman has announced her retirement from the Illinois Supreme Court effective July 7, 2022. Justice Garman, 78, has served on the Supreme Court since 2001 and retires as the longest-serving judge in Illinois. She served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 2013 to 2016. Justice Garman’s full statement on her retirement is available here.
“There is no doubt that I have had the role of a lifetime, a privilege to serve the people of the state of Illinois as a member of the court system at every level,” Justice Garman said. “But this is the right time for me to step back from my public role and allow someone else to assume this all- important position. Thank you for the opportunity to serve the citizens of Illinois.”
The Supreme Court has constitutional authority to fill interim judicial vacancies and has appointed Justice White to fill Justice Garman’s seat.
“Rita has been my close friend, mentor, and role model since I joined the bench in 2006. I have so much gratitude for her service to the Illinois judiciary,” Chief Justice Anne M. Burke said. “No words can describe her loss. However, she has provided hope for the future by nominating for her replacement a wonderful woman who will be able to step right into her shoes. It is a pleasure to welcome Justice Holder White to the Court.”
Justice Holder White, whose term is effective July 8, 2022, through December 2, 2024, will be the first Black woman to serve on the Illinois Supreme Court.
“Being appointed to the Illinois Supreme Court is the honor of a lifetime. I am humbled by the confidence Justice Rita B. Garman and the entire Court have placed in me,” Justice Holder White said. “My service to the judiciary for the past 21 years has helped prepare me for this historic moment. I look forward to the privilege of resolving matters my fellow citizens bring before the Court.”
Justice Lisa Holder White began her career as an Assistant State’s Attorney for Macon County before going into private practice while also serving as an Assistant Public Defender for Macon County. In 2001, Justice Holder White was sworn in as an Associate Judge in the Sixth Judicial Circuit, the first Black Judge in the circuit. In 2008, she became a Circuit Judge, having been appointed to the position by the Illinois Supreme Court to fill a retirement vacancy, and in 2010, was elected to the position. Judge White was sworn in on January 14, 2013, as the first Black Justice on the Illinois Appellate Court, Fourth District. In 2014, she was elected to the Illinois Appellate Court, Fourth District.
Justice Holder White previously served on and chaired the Illinois Supreme Court Judicial Conference Committee on Education, which is charged with planning and providing continuing judicial education for Illinois judges. She teaches at the bi-annual Education Conference, which all Illinois state court judges are required to attend, and previously served as an instructor for “New Judge School”. In April 2013, Judge White was named “Woman of the Year” at the 2013 Women of Excellence Awards, hosted by the Decatur YMCA and United Way of Decatur and Mid-Illinois. She has also been the recipient of a Lewis University Alumni Achievement Award, the Joe Slaw Civil Rights Award from the Decatur branch of the NAACP, the Illinois Jaycees Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award, the University of Illinois College of Law Black Law Students Association’s James Seaberry Award for Excellence, and the Illinois Judges Association Harold Sullivan Award.
Justice Holder White is a member of the Decatur Bar Association, the Illinois Judges Association, the Central Illinois Women’s Bar Association, and the University of Illinois College of Law Leadership Project. She previously served on the boards of the Decatur Public Schools Foundation, the Mid-Illinois Chapter of the American Red Cross, the Community Foundation of Macon County, and Millikin University. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from Lewis University, and her Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois College of Law.
