Illinois Appellate Court

Parts of this article (those related to 2nd-5th Districts) need to be updated. The reason given is: Illinois redistricted appellate divisions. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (March 2024)

Chicago (1st)

Elgin (2nd)

Ottawa (3rd)

Springfield (4th)

Mount Vernon (5th)

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Court locations

The Illinois Appellate Court is the court of first appeal for civil and criminal cases rising in the Illinois Circuit Courts. In Illinois, litigants generally have a right to first appeal from final decisions or judgements of the circuit court. Three Illinois Appellate Court judges hear each case and the concurrence of two is necessary to render a decision.^[1] The Illinois Appellate Court will render its opinion in writing, in the form of a published opinion or an unpublished order.^[2] As of 1935, decisions of the Illinois Appellate Court became binding authority upon lower courts in Illinois.^[3]

The Illinois Appellate Court has 52 judges serving five districts. The majority of the judges (18 in the First District, and between seven and nine in each of the Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Districts) are elected, with the remaining judges having been appointed by the Supreme Court of Illinois.^[4]

Civil cases appealed from the Illinois Appellate Court are heard by the Supreme Court of Illinois upon the grant of a Petition for Leave to Appeal under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 315,^[5] a Certificate of Importance under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 316,^[6] or a Petition for Appeal as a Matter of Right under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 317.^[7] The same rules apply to criminal cases.^[8]