JUDGE PLAINTIFF
Illinois Supreme Court’s Chief Justice Robert Thomas makes about $100,000, but he could end up with a $7 million windfall if a jury has its way. Thomas sued the Kane County Chronicle, a 14,000 circulation daily, for defamation and last week won the first round. A jury found that former Chronicle columnist Bill Page had “written falsely and acted with malice” when he accused Thomas of trading a vote for a political favor, The New York Times reports in a follow-up to last week's story. Thomas’s lawyer, Joseph Power, Jr., who represented the chief justice, said the finding “would weed out ‘renegade’ journalists.” The paper says it will appeal the verdict, but that can be tricky when the plaintiff is a judge. Defense lawyer Steven Mandell told the Times that those who testified against The Chronicle were beholden to Justice Thomas, and that those who declined to testify for the defense were afraid of retaliation. In a similar case filed by a Pennsylvania Supreme Court judge against the Philadelphia Inquirer that stretched for 23 years before finally being dismissed in June, many lawyers refused to represent the paper because they would have been going up against a judge.

 
JUDGE DEFENDANT
Also in the Times, an anatomy of the fight to represent accused murderer Darryl Littlejohn: “[The] lawyers of the unofficial Court Street bar association, a crowd better characterized by redness of knuckle than by whiteness of shoe, have put on an intense competition for his case.” One of the lawyers who wasn’t chosen to represent Littlejohn says he’ll sue Brooklyn Supreme Court Cheryl Chambers, who is presiding over the case (for now at least, Littlejohn’s new lawyer filed a motion asking for a new judge).

 
JUDGE BUS DRIVER
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich signed a temporary restraining order last week that had been requested by 10 bus companies that stand to lose 250 routes if the a money-saving plan take effect when scheduled on Dec. 4. A hearing on the proposal, which the city Department of Education claims will save $20 million annually that can be pumped into classrooms, is slated for Dec. 1, according to Friday's New York Post.

 
BAR JUDGE
Raising the bar on the New York State bar exam would have a “blunt and disparate impact on minorities” the New York Law Journal reports. A new study found that significant percentages of blacks, Hispanics, Puerto Ricans, and Asians would fail the test under higher standards.

 
JUDGE PROMOTION
And also in the Law Journal, Gov. Pataki appointed Judge Daniel Angiolillo to fill one of three vacancies on the Appellate Division, Second Department. Angiolillo was elected the Supreme Court in 1999 and sat on the County Court in Westchester before that.