Spotlight: New Attorneys, Illinois, the Supreme Court and the Cubs
On Wednesday, November 4, 2026, the Illinois Supreme Court held bar admission ceremonies across the state for the 1,572 new attorneys who passed the July 2026 Bar Exam. While the vast majority of these new lawyers are based in Chicago, Supreme Court Justice Lisa Holder White presided over two ceremonies at the Supreme Court in Springfield, during which 63 new attorneys were sworn in to the Fourth Appellate District, which encompasses 41 counties in Central and Western Illinois, ranging from Jersey County in the south up Jo Davies County on the Wisconsin border.
The legal profession traces its roots back to Ancient Rome in the First Century A.D. Since that time, lawyers have become the subject of jokes and negative rhetoric. Shakespeare included the line “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers,” in his play “Henry VI” in 1591. The line frequently reverberates today as a punchline and can be found emblazoned on novelty merchandise ranging from coffee cups to t-shirts. However, taken in context, the statement actually reveals the importance of the legal profession to an orderly society and the significant role lawyers play in upholding the rule of law. The line in the play was spoken between two rebels who were attempting to overthrow the lawful government in England through a violent uprising. U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens concluded in a 1985 dissent in Walters v. National Association of Radiation Survivors that a careful reading of the play reveals the idea that lawyers function as the guardians of freedom. Stevens noted that Shakespeare insightfully realized that disposing of lawyers in any culture is a step in the direction of totalitarianism and tyranny.
Justice Stevens, a native of Chicago, was well-acquainted with the threat of tyranny, having served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific during World War II. After the war, he returned to Chicago and attended Northwestern University School of Law on the GI Bill. Stevens graduated first in his class in 1947 and clerked for a year for a U.S. Supreme Court Justice - Wiley Blount Rutledge - before entering private practice in Chicago, with the law firm which is known today as Jenner & Block. Stevens went on to spend nearly 35 years on the Supreme Court from 1975 to 2010. A life-long Cubs fan, Stevens as a boy attended World Series games in 1929 and 1932 at Wrigley Field. Stevens recalled being at World Series Game 3 on October 1,1932 between the Cubs and the Yankees that produced one of the most acclaimed moments in baseball history: Babe Ruth calling his homerun shot to centerfield.
Baseball enthusiasts debate whether Ruth actually called the homerun but Stevens consistently shared his version of events that it indeed occurred. New York Governor and future President Franklin D. Roosevelt threw out the first pitch for the game. The Cubs were down 2 games to none. Ruth hit a three-run homer in the first inning. The Cubs answered with one run in the bottom of the inning. Lou Gehrig hit a solo homerun in the third inning, while the Cubs scored two more runs in the third and another in the fourth. After four innings the score was tied 4-4. Ruth came to the plate in the fifth inning where he was greeted with intense heckling from Cubs players and fans. With a 2-2 count, Stevens recalls that Ruth pointed to the center field scoreboard and then hit a powerful homerun deep into the center field stands on the next pitch. Gehrig came up to bat next and also hit a homerun. The Yankees went on to win the game by a score of 7–5, and the next day, they defeated the Cubs 13–6, completing a four-game sweep of the World Series. The Cubs returned to the World Series in 1935, losing to the Detroit Tigers, in 1939, losing to the Yankees, and in 1945, losing to the Tigers. The 1945 season brought with it the “Curse of the Billy Goat” when a Greek immigrant and restaurateur placed a hex on the team after he and his pet goat were ejected from Game 4 of the 1945 World Series at the command of Cubs owner Philip Wrigley. The Cubs did not return to the World Series until 2016, when they prevailed over the Cleveland Indians to end a 108-year championship drought, the longest in professional sports.
