New state Supreme Court justice takes oath

The Honorable P. Scott Neville Jr. took the oath on Friday, June 15, as the newest member of the Illinois Supreme Court.

Neville is the second African American to sit on the state’s highest tribunal.

Justice Neville, an Appellate Court Justice in Illinois for the past 14 years, was sworn in by Justice Anne M. Burke. 

He fills a vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Charles E. Freeman, the fifth-longest serving justice in Illinois Supreme Court history at 27 years, six months.

“Justice Neville is an experienced and highly respected member of the bench and was a unanimous choice to succeed Justice Freeman. Through his service on both the circuit and appellate courts, Justice Neville has demonstrated his deep commitment to the principles of fairness, justice and the rule of law,” Chief Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier said in a news release. 

“While we shall deeply miss Justice Freeman, Justice Neville will be an outstanding addition to the Supreme Court. My colleagues and I are all looking forward to working with him.”

Justice Neville’s ceremony was held at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago.

The appointment of Justice Neville to the court was effective on June 15 and terminates on Dec. 7, 2020, when the seat will be filled by the November 2020 general election. 

The Supreme Court has constitutional authority to fill all judicial vacancies.

Justice Neville stated that he believes, like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., that the moral arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice. Therefore, he stated that he will continue to serve the citizens of this state by ensuring that Illinois’ courts provide “equal justice for all.”

Justice Neville received his bachelor of arts degree at Culver Stockton College and his juris doctorate at the Washington University School of Law.

Following graduation from law school, Neville served as a law clerk for Appellate Court Justice Glenn T. Johnson, becoming the first African-American man to clerk for a Cook County Appellate Justice. 

Neville would go on to work as counsel for Howard, Mann & Slaughter and would establish P. Scott Neville Jr. & Associates in 1981. For nearly 25 years, Neville specialized in appellate, employment, civil rights and complex civil litigation. 

He was one of several attorneys who successfully prosecuted the 1992 Chicago Ward “ReMap” case, a case on which former President Barack Obama also worked.

Neville was appointed to the bench in 1999 and elected in 2000 as a judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County. He served in that capacity until he was appointed to the First District Appellate Court in 2004. He successfully ran for election to the Appellate Court in 2012.

Justice Neville previously served as chairman of the executive committee for the Illinois Appellate Court, First District and is a former member of the Appellate Court’s Executive Committee. He is currently the Presiding Justice of the Second Division.

Justice Neville’s professional associations include the National Bar Association, the Cook County Bar Association, and the Illinois State Bar Association. In 1997 he served as president of the Cook County Bar Association and co-founded the Alliance of Bar Associations, a group dedicated to promoting diversity, equality and fairness in judicial evaluations.

Since 1993, Justice Neville has been an instructor at the Intensive Trial Practice Workshop of the University of Chicago Law School.