Hon. Michael J. Burke is a justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, Second District. He was appointed to the position by the justices of the Illinois Supreme Court on February 29, 2020, filling the vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. Robert R. Thomas (Ret.).
Prior to his appointment, Burke presided as an appellate justice for the Illinois Second District Appellate Court, having been assigned in July 2008. During his tenure there, he served as Presiding Justice of the 2nd Appellate District for two years beginning in 2012. Burke began his judicial career as an associate judge for the 18th Judicial Circuit Court in 1992 and was later appointed a circuit judge of the same court in 2001.
Before joining the bench, he worked as an assistant state’s attorney with the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office (1983 to 1992), where he served as chief of the Special Prosecutions Unit.
He received a B.S. in education from Northern Illinois University in 1980. Burke went on to complete a J.D. at the John Marshall Law School (now the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law) in 1984.
His memberships have included the Illinois Judges Foundation (past director), the Illinois Judges Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, and the DuPage County Bar Association.
Burke served as committee chair of the Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee and is a certified judicial performance evaluation facilitator. He also sat on the Illinois Supreme Court’s Judicial Conference Committee, Study Committee on Complex Litigation, Courtroom Security Committee, and Judicial Mentor Committee.
Burke is a certified new judge mentor and peer judge mentor and a faculty member of the Judicial Education Conference and New Judge Seminar.
He has published articles in the Illinois Bar Journal and the DuPage County Bar Association Brief.
Burke was born in Chicago, Illinois, and attended St. Laurence High School. He and his wife, Mary Ann, have four children and eight grandchildren.
He is registered as a Republican.