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Mary Ann McMorrow

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Chief Justice
Mary Ann McMorrow
McMorrow's official photograph, c. 1987.
McMorrow's official photograph, c. 1987.
Born Mary Ann Grohwin
January 16, 1930
Chicago, U.S.
Died February 23, 2013 (aged 83)
Education Rosary College | Loyola University Chicago School of Law (JD)
Occupation Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice
Years active 2002-2006
Predecessor Justice Moses W. Harrison II
Successor Chief Justice Robert Thomas
Political party Democratic
Spouse Emmett McMorrow
Children Mary Ann

Mary Ann McMorrow (née Grohwin; January 16, 1930 – February 23, 2013) served as the first woman Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice from 2002-2006. McMorrow is notable for additionally serving as the first woman Justice on the Illinois Supreme Court, and for being the first woman to lead any of the three branches of government in the state of Illinois.[1] She served as the twenty-sixth woman State Supreme Court Chief Justice in the nation.[2]

Early life

Mary Ann Grohwin was born to Roman, a meat wholesaler, and Emily Grohwin and grew up in a Polish-American Roman Catholic household on the northwest side of Chicago.[1] She had two siblings, an older brother and a younger sister.[3]

Education

McMorrow's parents encouraged her and her two siblings to attend college because of the value her parents saw in education. She attended Rosary College, now known as Dominican University, and graduated in 1950. McMorrow's mother urged McMorrow to consider attending law school. McMorrow was initially wary because it was highly uncommon for women to attend and because many law schools would not accept women.[4] After receiving her undergraduate degree, McMorrow applied to and was accepted to Loyola University Chicago School of Law.[3] While at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, McMorrow worked as an associate editor for the Loyola Law Review, and her all-male graduating class elected her as class president. She graduated in 1953, being the only woman in her graduating class, and was soon after admitted to the Illinois bar.[5]

Early career

Prosecutor

McMorrow started her legal career at the law firm of Riordan & Linklater. In 1955, she worked at the Assistant State's Attorney of Cook County, assigned to the Criminal Division, and was the first woman to prosecute major felony cases in Cook County.[1]

While working at the State's Attorney, McMorrow was provided with the opportunity to argue a case before the Supreme Court of Illinois. Two days before arguing before the Court, McMorrow's boss prohibited her from going because she was a woman. Years later, McMorrow reveled in the fact that she sat on the very bench that she was once not allowed to argue before. She has expressed that excluding women from arguing before the State Supreme Courts is a waste of valuable talent.[3]

Path to the Circuit Court of Cook County and the First District Appellate Court

McMorrow was encouraged by her coworkers at the State's Attorney to run for a position on the Circuit Court of Cook County. She was initially unsure about running because of her lack of political experience at that time, but ran anyway.[3] Voters elected McMorrow as a Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County in 1976 after running as a democrat. Six years later, in 1982, voters retained McMorrow for a second term.[6] The Supreme Court of Illinois appointed McMorrow to the Illinois Appellate Court in 1985 and elected to that court in 1986.[7]

Illinois Supreme Court

Illinois is one of eight states in the United States to elect their State Supreme Court justices through partisan election.[8] In 1992, after defeating Robert C. Buckley, a Republican Appellate judge, and seven fellow Democratic primary candidates, voters elected McMorrow to the Supreme Court of Illinois.[9] McMorrow became the first woman to serve as a Supreme Court Justice in the State's 173-year history. McMorrow succeeded Justice William G. Clark.[1][10] McMorrow's win was notable considering women only made up around nine percent of the judiciary in the United States at that time.[11]

During the election race, Buckley, McMorrow's Republican opponent, criticized McMorrow's comment that the Court needed the perspective of a woman. Buckley challenged McMorrow's objectivity, a common form of backlash targeted towards women judges, claiming the gender of a judge should have no impact in their decision.[12] McMorrow did not believe a woman's perspective would drastically change the Court's opinion, but that it was different than a man's and important to represent on the Court. McMorrow did not think of herself as a woman in the law, but simply as a legal professional.[13]

Voters retained McMorrow as an Illinois Supreme Court Justice in 2002.[1][10]

Notable Opinions and Dissents

In 1995, McMorrow dissented from the Court's majority opinion in the case Charles vs. Seigfried, where the majority argued that individuals who sell or offer alcohol to minors are not legally liable for the injuries that were caused by the intoxicated minors. McMorrow argued that the no-liability decision was dangerous and unacceptable, relied on outdated precedents, and claimed that the decision would lead to preventable deaths and injuries of more minors, and that all Illinois citizens would be negatively impacted by this decision.[14]

In 1997, McMorrow authored the opinion of Best v. Taylor Machine Works, which overturned a law that set a cap on how much an individual who was injured or died from a workplace accident was entitled to in monetary compensation.[15]

In 2002, McMorrow authored the opinion of Happel v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., which made it mandatory for pharmacists to disclose any side effects that could come from taking prescribed medications.[16]

Chief Justice

In May 2002, McMorrow's fellow Supreme Court Justices unanimously elected McMorrow as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois, guaranteeing her position for a three-year term. She succeeded Justice Moses W. Harrison. After being elected Chief Justice, she became the first woman to head any of the three branches of Illinois state government.[17]

Current Illinois Supreme Court

Since 2022, the bench on the Illinois Supreme Court has been held by a majority of women.[18] Currently, four women serve as Illinois Supreme Court Justices, including Justice Lisa Holder White, Justice Joy V. Cunningham, Justice Elizabeth M. Rochford, and Justice Mary K. O'Brien.[19]

Awards

In 1991, McMorrow received the "Medal of Excellence" award from Loyola University Chicago School of Law's Alumni Association. She also received the Chicago Bar Association's Justice John Paul Stevens Award and the 1996 "The Fellows of the Illinois Bar Foundation award for Distinguished Service to Law and Society."[20][21]

In 1993, the Catholic Lawyers' Guild named McMorrow the "Lawyer of the Year."[20] In 2003, the magazine, Chicago Lawyer, named McMorrow "Person of the Year."[22]

The Women's Bar Association of Illinois awarded McMorrow with the "Myra Bradwell Woman of Achievement Award" in 1998, which is the association's most prestigious award. That same year, the law fraternity, Phi Alpha Delta, awarded McMorrow with the "Barbara Jordan Outstanding Public Service Award."[20]

McMorrow received the "Freedom Award" from the John Marshall Law School in 2000. The following year, in 2001, the National Association of Women Lawyers awarded McMorrow with the "Arabella Babb Mansfield Award."[20]

In 2005, the American Bar Association awarded McMorrow with the Margaret Brent Award for her professional expertise in the legal field and for being a positive role model for future lawyers.[23]

In 2007, The Lincoln Academy of Illinois inducted McMorrow as a Laureate. That same year, the Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, awarded her the Order of Lincoln, the State’s highest honor in the area of Government and Law.[24][25]

Retirement

Chief Justice McMorrow retired from the bench on July 5, 2006.[1] Chief Justice Robert Thomas succeeded her.[26] Over the course of her career as an Illinois Supreme Court Justice, McMorrow authored 225 majority opinions.[1]

Professional associations

Chief Justice McMorrow served as a member of the:

Personal life

McMorrow married Emmett McMorrow, a Chicago Police lieutenant, in 1962. The two met during McMorrow's time working as a prosecutor. The couple had one daughter, Mary Ann.[1][3]

Death

Chief Justice McMorrow died on February 23, 2013, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, aged 83, from undisclosed causes.[1]

See also

References

  1. Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Back to citation occurrence 1.2 Back to citation occurrence 1.3 Back to citation occurrence 1.4 Back to citation occurrence 1.5 Back to citation occurrence 1.6 Back to citation occurrence 1.7 Back to citation occurrence 1.8 Lupton, John A; Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission, eds. (2018). Adjudicating Illinois: justices of the Illinois Supreme Court. Brookfield, MO: The Donning Company Publishers. ISBN 978-1-68184-189-2.
  2. Back to citation "Female chief justices of state supreme courts". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2026-05-02.
  3. Back to citation occurrence 3.0 Back to citation occurrence 3.1 Back to citation occurrence 3.2 Back to citation occurrence 3.3 Back to citation occurrence 3.4 IllinoisChannelTV (2013-02-24). Remembering Justice Mary Ann McMorrow. Retrieved 2026-04-09 – via YouTube.
  4. Back to citation Palmer, Barbara (2001). ""To Do Justly": The Integration of Women into the American Judiciary". Political Science & Politics. 34 (2): 235–239. doi:10.1017/s1049096501000397 (inactive 19 May 2026). ISSN 1049-0965.
  5. Back to citation Lupton, John A; Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission, eds. (2018). Adjudicating Illinois: justices of the Illinois Supreme Court. Brookfield, MO: The Donning Company Publishers. ISBN 978-1-68184-189-2; Courts, State of Illinois Office of the Illinois. "Illinois Supreme Court history: Illinois women firsts". Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts. Retrieved 2026-04-07; "The Illinois Bar Exam | University of Chicago Law School". www.law.uchicago.edu. 2022-09-19. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
  6. Back to citation "Judicial selection in Illinois". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
  7. Back to citation "Judicial selection in Illinois". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2026-04-08; Lupton, John A; Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission, eds. (2018). Adjudicating Illinois: justices of the Illinois Supreme Court. Brookfield, MO: The Donning Company Publishers. ISBN 978-1-68184-189-2; Christian, Sue (1992-11-09). "McMorrow dream not 'impossible'". Chicago Tribune. ProQuest 1696478664.
  8. Back to citation "How Are State Judges Selected? | State Court Report". statecourtreport.org. 2026-04-21. Retrieved 2026-05-01.
  9. Back to citation Grady, William (1992-03-18). "McMorrow on top in high court race: 1st woman nominated for post". Chicago Tribune. ProQuest 1696445482.
  10. Back to citation occurrence 10.0 Back to citation occurrence 10.1 "Illinois | State Court Report". statecourtreport.org. 2026-04-06. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
  11. Back to citation Stockmeyer, N. O. Jr. (1993). “Hail to the Chiefs: A Tribute to America’s Women Chief Justices Tribute.” Women Lawyers Journal 80(4): 9–18.
  12. Back to citation Kenney, Sally (2013). Gender & Justice: Why Women in the Judiciary Really Matter. Routledge. pp. 143–144.
  13. Back to citation Grady, William (1992-10-30). "Gender not an issue, high court hopeful says". Chicago Tribune. ProQuest 1688875695.
  14. Back to citation Charles vs. Seigfried, 165 Ill.2d 482 (1995).
  15. Back to citation Best vs. Taylor Machine Works, 179 Ill. 2d 367 (1997).
  16. Back to citation Happel v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 199 Ill. 2d 179 (2002).
  17. Back to citation Lupton, John A; Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission, eds. (2018). Adjudicating Illinois: justices of the Illinois Supreme Court. Brookfield, MO: The Donning Company Publishers. ISBN 978-1-68184-189-2; Norris, Mikel; Tankersley, Holley (2018-01-02). "Women Rule: Gendered Leadership and State Supreme Court Chief Justice Selection". Journal of Women, Politics & Policy. 39 (1): 104–125. doi:10.1080/1554477X.2017.1375789. ISSN 1554-477X; Bonjean, Chris (2013-02-24). "Mary Ann G. McMorrow, 1st female Illinois Supreme Court Justice, passes away after brief illness | Illinois State Bar Association". www.isba.org. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
  18. Back to citation "Illinois Supreme Court history: Illinois women firsts". Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts. Retrieved 2026-05-02.
  19. Back to citation "Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts". Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts. Retrieved 2026-05-02.
  20. Back to citation occurrence 20.0 Back to citation occurrence 20.1 Back to citation occurrence 20.2 Back to citation occurrence 20.3 Back to citation occurrence 20.4 Jochner, Michele. "Justice Mary Ann G. McMorrow becomes the first female Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court | Illinois State Bar Association". www.isba.org. Retrieved 2026-05-02.
  21. Back to citation Bonjean, Chris (2013-02-24). "Mary Ann G. McMorrow, 1st female Illinois Supreme Court Justice, passes away after brief illness | Illinois State Bar Association". www.isba.org. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
  22. Back to citation occurrence 22.0 Back to citation occurrence 22.1 "HR0116 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY". my.ilga.gov. Retrieved 2026-05-02.
  23. Back to citation Goldberg, Stephanie (2005). "Honoring the Unsung Heroes: Margaret Brent Awards Celebrate 15th Anniversary" (PDF). Perspectives: 4–8.
  24. Back to citation "Laureates by Year - The Lincoln Academy of Illinois". The Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  25. Back to citation Garman, Rita. "Mary Ann McMorrow remembered | Illinois State Bar Association". www.isba.org. Retrieved 2026-05-02.
  26. Back to citation Feldmann, Doug, and Mike Ditka. 2020. “Looking Ahead.” In A View from Two Benches, Cornell University Press. doi:10.7591/cornell/9781501749988.003.0014.
  27. Back to citation "About | History". Women's Bar Association of Illinois. Retrieved 2026-05-02.
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