Robert R. Thomas

Born in Rochester, New York, Thomas graduated from McQuaid Jesuit High School in Rochester, where he excelled both academically and in athletics, lettering in both football and soccer.

He attended the University of Notre Dame where he kicked for the football team, including kicking the winning field goal in the 1973 Sugar Bowl victory over University of Alabama, which clinched the AP National Championship that season for Notre Dame. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in government in 1974 and was named an Academic All-American in that same year.

He received his Juris Doctor degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 1981.

Thomas had a twelve-year career as a kicker in the National Football League.{{cite news|last=Kleppel|first=Ken|url=http://und.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/110405aah.html|title=From The Gridiron To The Supreme Court|publisher=University of Notre Dame|access-date=2008-01-30|archive-date=2008-03-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080310184605/http://und.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/110405aah.html|url-status=dead}}

He played for the Chicago Bears ({{NFL Year|1975}}–{{NFL Year|1982}} and {{NFL Year|1983}}–{{NFL Year|1984}}), the Detroit Lions (1982), the San Diego Chargers ({{NFL Year|1985}}), and the New York Giants ({{NFL Year|1986}}).

He was elected circuit court judge in DuPage County in 1988. There, he presided over civil jury trials and was the Acting Chief Judge from 1989 to 1994. In 1994, Judge Thomas was elected to the Illinois Appellate Court, Second District. On December 4, 2000, Justice Thomas was sworn in as the Illinois Supreme Court Justice for the Second District after defeating incumbent S. Louis Rathje in a contentious primary. Justice Thomas was elected to serve as Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice on September 6, 2005, and served as the Chief Justice until September 5, 2008.{{Cite web|url=http://www.illinoiscourts.gov/SupremeCourt/Justices/Bio_Thomas.asp|title=Illinois Supreme Court Justice Robert R. Thomas|website=www.illinoiscourts.gov}} In February 2020, he announced he would be resigned from the Supreme Court effective February 29.{{cite web |last1=Bagby |first1=Laura |title=Justice Robert R. Thomas to Retire from Illinois Supreme Court |url=https://www.2civility.org/justice-robert-r-thomas-to-retire-from-illinois-supreme-court/ |website=2Civility |access-date=2 April 2020 |date=11 February 2020}}

On January 1, 2011, Justice Thomas authored the Illinois State Supreme Court decision Maksym v. Chicago Board of Elections{{citation |url=http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/SupremeCourt/2011/January/111773.pdf|title=Walter P. Maksym et al., Appellees, v. The Board of Election Commissioners of the City of Chicago et al., Appellants.|access-date=2011-01-27}} that overturned a lower court ruling that Rahm Emanuel was ineligible to run for Mayor of Chicago.

In April 1996, Thomas was inducted into the Academic All-American Hall of Fame. In January 1999, he received the NCAA Silver Anniversary Award.

Justice Thomas is a member of the DuPage County Bar Association.

In 2007, Justice Thomas was awarded $7 million in a successful defamation of character lawsuit against Bill Page, a former columnist at the Kane County Chronicle. Thomas' lawyers alleged that Page had essentially accused him of official misconduct, a felony. Page wrote in his column that Thomas had traded his vote on a disciplinary case in exchange for political support for his favored candidate in a local judicial race. The case was significant because it prompted an Illinois appellate court to establish a judicial privilege in Illinois, allowing judicial deliberations to be kept private, much like doctor-patient discussions.{{cite news| url= https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/20/business/media/20judge.html |title= Clash of a Judge and a Small Paper Underlines the Tangled History of Defamation| work=The New York Times| date= November 20, 2006| first= Katharine Q. |last= Seelye |access-date= March 28, 2008}}

Later in 2007, after the newspaper filed suit against Thomas in federal court, the parties came together and settled all litigation, with the newspaper agreeing to pay Thomas $3 million.{{Cite web|url=https://www.law.com/dailyreportonline/almID/1202552240989/|title=Illinois' chief justice settles defamation case against newspaper for $3 million|website=Daily Report}}

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• {{cite web| url= http://www.illinoiscourts.gov/SupremeCourt/Justices/Bio_Thomas.asp |title= Robert R. Thomas, Supreme Court Justice | website=IllinoisCourts.gov| access-date= May 8, 2016}}

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Category:1952 births

Category:Living people

Category:American athlete-politicians

Category:American football placekickers

Category:Chicago Bears players

Category:Detroit Lions players

Category:New York Giants players

Category:Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players

Category:San Diego Chargers players

Category:Chief justices of the Supreme Court of Illinois

Category:Illinois Republicans

Category:Illinois state court judges

Category:Judges of the Illinois Appellate Court

Category:Loyola University Chicago School of Law alumni

Category:Players of American football from Rochester, New York

Category:21st-century American judges