ILLINOIS — Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier tendered notice this week he will resign his seat on the bench effective Dec. 6. 2020.

“It has been a privilege serving the people of Illinois,” he wrote in his letter, dated Oct. 29. The Washington County native he said he would not “run again considering my age.”

Karmeier, 79, was first elected to his seat on the state’s high court in 2004.

His notice means that candidates interested in filling the open seat may begin circulating nomination papers to appear on the March 17 primary ballot, with winners going on to the general election on Nov. 3, 2020.

Voters from the Fifth Judicial District – comprised of the state’s 37 southernmost counties – elected Karmeier, a Republican, over Gordon Maag, a Democrat who was a sitting Fifth District appellate court justice at the time, by a 10 point margin, 55-45 percent.

That election, essentially pitting business interests against the trial bar, was the nation’s costliest at the time, topping $9 million. A major issue in the election that resonated with voters was the high cost of medical malpractice insurance that providers said was driving doctors away from the Metro-East.

He successfully won retention 10 years later.

When Karmeier was in his mid- to late-20s, he clerked for former Illinois Supreme Court Justice Byron House.

He later served as Washington County’s state’s attorney, clerked for U.S. District Court Judge James Foreman, practiced general law and was a circuit judge.

He recently celebrated his 54th wedding anniversary with his wife, Mary.