Justice P. Scott Neville, Jr. will become Illinois’ next chief justice of the state Supreme Court, the court announced Tuesday.
The Bronzeville native will be the court’s second Black chief justice. He was the first Black man to clerk for an appellate court justice in Cook County when he took on that role in 1974. He will serve in the role for the next three years of his 10-year term that he won in 2020.
Public trust in the courts “requires justice that is accessible, procedures that are understandable, and support services that meet the needs of litigants,” Neville said in a statement Tuesday night. “I will also work to make the Illinois courts a national model, safeguarding the constitutional promise of equal justice without regard to who a person is, where they live, or what resources they have so all litigants are seen and heard.”
The Washington University School of Law alum became a Cook County Circuit Court Judge in 1999 and moved up to the Appellate Court five years later. In 2018, he was appointed to the Illinois Supreme Court to fill the open seat left by retiring Justice Charles Freeman, who was the first Black justice on the court and the court’s first Black chief justice.
Neville also previously served as president of the Cook County Bar Association.
Neville has ruled over high-profile cases, including a challenge to Illinois’ assault weapons ban, which he voted to uphold in a 4-3 decision.
Neville has pushed for diversity initiatives in the courtroom and co-founded the Alliance of Bar Associations, which brings together about a dozen Illinois legal groups representing members from different ethnic backgrounds and sexualities.
An advertisement for his 2020 campaign called him a “son of Bronzeville and segregated public schools on Chicago’s South Side” who became a “champion for diversity on the bench.”
“It took the State of Illinois 172 years to elect a person of color to its Supreme Court, and with my nomination, Illinois will continue to have an African American on its highest court,” Neville said in a 2020 statement declaring victory in the race.
“I have been on the battlefield my entire life fighting to improve the lives of all people,” Neville told the Sun-Times for its 2020 candidate questionnaire.
He is succeeding Justice Mary Jane Theis at the head of the state’s highest court.
As head of the court, Neville will oversee the administration of the state’s courts and more than 900 judges, appointments to Supreme Court committees and lead the Illinois Judicial Conference, among other duties.