An Intelligent Judge?

We weren't sure they existed in Cook County any more, but evidently, there's one:

• A Chicago judge denied a request to appoint a special prosecutor for investigations into federal agent misconduct during Operation Midway Blitz last fall.

  A group of hundreds of politicians, community activists and religious leaders had asked for a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of misconduct against U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration Enforcement agents during the federal immigration crackdown in Chicago.

  They argued Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke worked too closely with federal agencies to bring cases against them, and had abandoned her duty to investigate the actions of federal immigration agents.

  O'Neill Burke denied any conflict of interest, and her team argued, "Illinois law simply does not permit prosecutors to initiate criminal investigations and bring prosecutions because the general public and elected officials would like them to."

  The judge ruled the petitioners did not prove the state's attorney abandoned her duty to investigate federal agents, nor did they prove she had a conflict of interest. The judge said an allegation of a relationship with law enforcement is not enough to establish a conflict of interest.

Amusingly, the entire article doesn't mention the judges name even once. There's an embedded link to a previous story that names the judge - Erica Reddick - but we guess the "reporters" don't want it know that there is an actual judge following actual Law and recognizing that Cook County pretty much has zero authority to investigate and prosecute Federal agents.

Not that we would even recommend voting for a judge in Cook County, but we'd recommend cutting her a break for traffic violations or something.