Blog Post

Thomas R. Fitzgerald began his law career as a prosecutor in the office of the Cook County State’s Attorney. In 1976, Fitzgerald won election as the county’s youngest circuit judge. Later, as a Supervising Judge of the Traffic Court he worked on the famous Operation Greylord; helping clean the court up in the aftermath. He later returned to the Criminal Division as Presiding Judge of both Cook County Criminal Court and Illinois’s first statewide grand jury. In 2000, he won election to the Illinois Supreme Court, where he would serve until his retirement in 2010. In 2009, Fitzgerald was the first Illinois Chief Justice to preside over the impeachment trial of a sitting governor.

Judge Thomas R. Fitzgerald: An Oral History