[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 26 (Monday, February 25, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S809]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                 REMEMBERING JUSTICE MARY ANN McMORROW

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President today I wish to pay tribute to Justice Mary 
Ann McMorrow, a devoted public servant and a pioneer of the Illinois 
legal community who passed away last weekend at the age of 83.
  Justice McMorrow was a native Chicagoan, attending Immaculata High 
School and Rosary College which is now Dominican University. She went 
on to attend the Loyola University School of Law, where she was elected 
class president and served as associate editor of the Law Review. She 
graduated in 1953 as the only woman in her class. Yet as Justice 
McMorrow set off on her legal career, she refused to let glass ceilings 
stop her from reaching the greatest heights.
  Justice McMorrow embarked on a public service career that would span 
decades and culminate in her service as the first woman on the Illinois 
Supreme Court and its first female chief justice. Her public sector 
career began with a post as an assistant State's attorney in Cook 
County, where she became the first woman in Cook County to prosecute 
major felonies. On one occasion she was told by a supervisor in the 
State's attorney's office that she would not be presenting an oral 
argument before the Illinois Supreme Court because women had not done 
that before. Well, before long Justice McMorrow would preside over the 
very same arguments from which she was once excluded.
  In 1976, Justice McMorrow was elected as a judge of the Circuit Court 
of Cook County, and she joined the Illinois Appellate Court in 1985. 
She was elected to the Illinois Supreme Court in 1992 and became the 
chief justice of that court in 2002. The importance of this achievement 
cannot be overstated. As Justice McMorrow said upon becoming chief 
justice, ``When I went to law school, women couldn't even dream of such 
a thing. I hope this would forever indicate that there's nothing that 
limits women in any job or any profession.'' Justice McMorrow served as 
chief justice until her retirement in 2006, and overall she wrote 225 
majority opinions during her Supreme Court tenure.
  Justice McMorrow was an active member of her church, St. Mary of the 
Woods, and along with her late husband Emmett she was committed to her 
community and to various charities. Among the many accolades Justice 
McMorrow received during her career were the Medal of Excellence award 
from the Loyola University School of Law Alumni Association, the 
Chicago Bar Association's Justice John Paul Stevens Award, the American 
Bar Association's Margaret A. Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, 
and the Myra Bradwell Woman of Achievement Award, the highest award 
given by the Women's Bar Association of Illinois. In addition to these 
honors, she also received four honorary degrees and numerous other 
awards. When asked about her illustrious career, Justice McMorrow 
responded, ``I just simply tried to do my best in every task that was 
presented to me.''
  Justice McMorrow was truly a model of what hard work and humility can 
accomplish. During a time when women were not accepted as equals in the 
legal profession she proved herself superior. When young women in 
classrooms across Illinois are asked what they want to be when they 
grow up, they can confidently respond that they will be judges and have 
Justice McMorrow as a beacon to strive towards. Today as we mourn her 
passing we also celebrate her achievements and the legacy of 
opportunity she has created for countless young women in our State.
  Loretta and I send our condolences to Justice McMorrow's daughter 
Mary Ann, her sister Frances, and her other family and friends across 
Illinois and the Nation.

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