Justice Robert Spence of the Illinois Appellate Court, Second District, will be retiring from the bench. Justice Spence has served on the Appellate Court since 2012 and, before that, served in the circuit court since 2001.  Justice Spence also served as an Assistant State's Attorney for 14 years and as an Assistant Attorney General for six years. Justice Spence received his undergraduate degree from Taylor University and his Juris Doctor from The John Marshall Law School.

To fill Justice Spence's vacancy, the Illinois Supreme Court has appointed Retired Circuit Judge George Bridges to the Second District effective September 16, 2019. 

Judge Bridges received his undergraduate degree in 1982 from National Lewis University and his Juris Doctor in 1987 from Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Judge Bridges served as Waukegan's first African-American police chief from 1988 to 1990, when he began working as an Assistant State's Attorney in the Lake County State's Attorney's office.  Judge Bridges served as Waukegan's police chief again from 1993 until his appointment as an associate judge in Lake County in 1995.  The Illinois Supreme Court appointed Judge Bridges as a circuit judge of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit in 2012, and he was elected as a full circuit judge in 2014.  Judge Bridges retired from the bench in 2016.