A Chicago judge in the case of special prosecutor Jussie Smollett reassigns the case to a new lawyer

The Cook County Attorney's Office, along with Martin, argued that challenging a judge simply to have a family member employed as a prosecutor would set a bad precedent.

Instead, Martin transferred the case to another judge, Michael Toomin, stating, as the Chicago Tribune explains:

"The idea that a judge should challenge because a member of his immediate family works in the office, [the system] literally at a standstill, "he said. "That's not how that thing is supposed to work."

Noting the "enormous" interest of the public in the Smollett case, the judge however stated that he had decided to entrust the issue to a different judge in order to avoid even the "wrong". appearance of a conflict.

"I am not indifferent to the fact that there are people in the audience who believe that my presence in this case is disrupting the procedure in one way or another", he declares. "I am always aware, as former Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia once said, that the appearance of justice is often as important as justice itself."

Sheila O'Brien, a former judge of the Illinois Court of Appeals, has asked a special prosecutor to investigate how Cook County lawyer Kim Foxx has decided to withdraw 16 charges of disorderly conduct in Cook County. Empire after being accused of being a racist and homophobic attack and lying to the authorities.

Foxx said that she had no personal contribution in the decision, but then indicated that the decision to abandon the case was due to weaknesses.

However, since this decision was made, Foxx has had a hard time making itself heard, especially from police groups who question his ability to lead as Chief Prosecutor of Chicago and County. from Cook.

Foxx says she's no problem with the decision being reviewed, but says that a special attorney would only duplicate the work already done by the Cook County Inspector General.