Leonard Parker March 13, 2023
Judge Robert Carter
Former Illinois Supreme Court Justice Robert Carter recalled growing up on the 2300 block of East Grandview as a kid, driving several blocks over to a baseball diamond with his brother Randy and neighborhood friend Dennis Dyson, where children from the neighborhood gathered.
“We just started playing,” Carter said, “and people showed up. It was a different era. There were a lot of great people living in Grandview and it was a good place to grow up.”
When Carter returns to the village Monday, the Grandview Municipal Building, 1620 N. Milton Ave., will be named in his honor.
The honor, Carter said in a recent interview, was “overwhelming. She means a lot to me.”
All seven Illinois Supreme Court justices are expected to attend the 3:30 p.m. inauguration.
Carter’s wife, Nancy Rink Carter, who also practices law, will travel with him to Springfield from Ottawa, Illinois. The couple have two children in the Chicago area, Mary and Matthew.
Carter, 76, was appointed to the Supreme Court in December 2020 after LaSalle Justice Thomas Kilbride became the first Supreme Court Justice to lose his bid to remain in the third circuit a month earlier.
He declined to stand in the November court elections, when voters selected Mary Kay O’Brien of Kankakee as the permanent successor to Kilbride’s seat.
Grandview President Maria “Mia” Ray said the naming of the building was “perfectly appropriate” because villagers have been trying to revitalize or start a series of new community events.
“It really struck me when (Ann Libri, who works for the Illinois Supreme Court) talked about (Carter) being really involved in community service and things like that,” Ray said. “I called our village attorney (Don Craven) and said what about[naming the church building after Carter]because most of our church events are held there.”
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These include, Ray said, a “trunk-or-treat” for Halloween, along with a chili cookoff and crafts and gifts for kids, a Christmas party, an Easter egg hunt and a fall festival.
“There are a lot of things that Grandview residents should be proud of, and those who have been in the community for a long time know what that feeling of pride is,” Ray said.
The Carter family has long roots in the community, his mother, Antoinette “Peggy” (Vespa) Carter, who died in Jacksonville in 2013, was raised in a small Italian neighborhood on the outskirts of Grandview.
Carter attended St. Aloysius School and St. Cabrini School after they opened in 1953, and graduated from Griffin High School (now Sacred Heart-Griffin) in 1964, the year she won the state baseball championship.
“I played baseball in little league and pony league with a lot of members of this team,” said Carter, who was not on the team.
Carter said Rev. Thomas Pisors, who taught physics, trigonometry, and analytic geometry, and Rev. Eugene Lutz, a chemistry teacher, “had a positive influence on my approach and they were very dedicated teachers.
“In addition to my parents,[those schools]instilled a very strong work ethic and the idea of doing your best.”
Among the jobs he had he worked at the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop at 416 S. Eighth St. Carter was hired by owner Ralph Newman, a Lincoln scholar and Civil War manuscript expert who also owned the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago.
Carter also delivered newspapers and worked in several positions at the Illinois State Fair.
After graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Carter worked full-time as a Personnel Officer for the State of Illinois when he was drafted into the US Army and served in Vietnam. He was awarded the Army Commendation Medal.
Carter returned to his state job and earned his master’s degree in administration by taking night classes at what was then Sangamon State University (now the University of Illinois Springfield).
He returned to Urbana-Champaign to attend law school.
“For some reason I got the idea of becoming a lawyer when I was in kindergarten,” Carter said jokingly. “Thinking back, maybe it’s because my mother used to read me stories about Lincoln. Lincoln was a lawyer, and maybe that’s what I took it into my head to do.”
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After graduating from law school, Carter worked as a court clerk for Illinois Supreme Court Justice Howard Ryan.
“I had no idea it would come full circle and I would end up in the Supreme Court myself,” Carter said.
After a private law practice, at age 33 Carter was appointed an associate judge in the 13th Judicial Circuit Court, which includes Bureau, Grundy and LaSalle counties. He eventually served at all levels of the Illinois judiciary.
Carter said he always spoke to new judges in the circle about humility and how to run a courtroom.
Illinois Supreme Courthouse in Springfield
“When I spoke about humility, I cautioned against hubris,” Carter said. “Obviously, judges don’t have all the answers. You do your best. So much revolves around the evidence presented. Based on these facts and the law, you make the decision. The facts don’t get better with time. They are there. Once you know the facts and the law, make your decision.”
Carter did not want to run for the Supreme Court seat in 2022 because it was a 10-year term.
In Illinois, judges of the District Court, Circuit Court of Appeals, and Supreme Court run for office, a mechanism established by the state’s 1970 Constitution.
“When they voted on the 1970 Constitution, there were alternative provisions for selecting judges,” Carter said. “I remember my father (Harold Eugene Carter) saying he didn’t want judges being selected in some backroom somewhere. He wanted the opportunity to vote for her.
“There are flaws in both systems. Sometimes voters have no idea who the judge candidates are, and often there is a large drop in people voting all the way down to the judiciary (on the ballot). It is important for the public to know who the judge candidates are.”
This article originally appeared in the State Journal index: Grandview Municipal Building Named After Robert Carter
