Karmeier Retained by Slimmest of Margins

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier has been retained on the state's high court by the slimmest of margins.

Karmeier...a lighting rod for criticism from some, a champion to others...received 60.7% of the vote cast throughout the 5th Judicial District. He needed at least 60% "Yes" votes to be retained on the bench.

A group of trial lawyers, many from out-of-state, launched a campaign to discredit Karmeier, while a separate effort then began to discredit his critics, leading to a campaign seldom seen in a judicial race.

Karmeier received 223,154 "Yes" votes and 144,424 "No" votes in Tuesday's balloting.