Opinion ID: 181935
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Appointment

Text: The second line of the appellants' argument involves their appointment as Assistant State's Attorneys. The appellants argue on appeal that they were not appointed by the State's Attorney and thus cannot be considered appointees on the policymaking level. The appellants maintain that they were not named or appointed by the State's Attorney, as they were hired by the State's Attorney's Office instead, and in any case, they were hired as Assistant State's Attorneys before Richard Devine was elected as the Cook County State's Attorney. The appellants' argument that they were hired by the State's Attorney's Office and not by the State's Attorney fails on all accounts. Assistant State's Attorneys are appointed by the State's Attorney as a matter of Illinois law. Illinois law states that Assistant State's Attorneys are to be named by the State's Attorney of the county. 55 ILCS 5/4-2003 (2010). This statutory language gives the State's Attorney exclusive authority to appoint Assistant State's Attorneys. This statute makes plain that Assistant State's Attorneys are appointees. The appellants further assert that they were hired as Assistant State's Attorneys before Richard Devinethe State's Attorney under whom each was terminated was elected, and they were thus not chosen by Richard Devine. This argument has no merit. Each current Assistant State's Attorney is re-appointed upon the swearing in of each new State's Attorney. The appellants were thus appointed by Richard Devine upon his swearing in.