Anne M. Burke

Retired Chief Justice Anne M. Burke was a member of the Illinois Supreme Court representing the First Judicial District. She was appointed to the Supreme Court on July 6, 2006, was elected in 2008, and was retained in November 2018. In September 2019, she was elected by her colleagues to serve as Chief Justice and on October 26, 2019 her three-year term as Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court commenced. Prior to joining the Supreme Court, Justice Burke was appointed to the Appellate Court in 1995 and was elected the following year to the Appellate bench where she served until July 5, 2006. Her judicial career began earlier, in 1987, with an appointment to the Illinois Court of Claims by Governor Jim Thompson. She was later reappointed by Governor Jim Edgar. Before serving on the Illinois Appellate Court, Justice Burke was appointed Special Counsel for Child Welfare Services by Governor Jim Edgar and made a member of his Legislative Committee on Juvenile Justice. She provided in-depth leadership in reshaping and improving the Illinois juvenile justice system. 

Prior to her judicial career, Justice Burke was a physical education teacher with the Chicago Park District where she worked with children with learning differences. Having recognized the positive impact that sports competition had on her students, she championed the idea of a city-wide competition. This ultimately led to the creation of the Chicago Special Olympics in 1968, and grew to become the International Special Olympics, involving tens of millions of participants in 192 nations across the globe. She later served as a Director of the International Special Olympics and remains involved with the Chicago Special Olympics to this day. 

For more than two years, between 2002-2004, Justice Burke served as Interim Chair, directing the efforts of the National Review Board of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in its investigation of the causes and effects of the clerical sexual abuse scandal and helped to establish guidelines and policies for effectively responding to this scandal. She currently serves on the Executive Steering Committee of Kennedy Forum Illinois. As a member of the Illinois Supreme Court, Justice Burke was a frequent speaker and panelist before many civic groups and local Bar Associations.

Justice Burke is married, has five children, and nine grandchildren.