In Re Marriage of O'Brien

JUSTICE O’MALLEY,

specially concurring:

Petitioner asks us to clarify the standards governing removal of judges in light of the apparently conflicting treatment the issue has received in Illinois case law. Petitioner notes in his brief that, according to Hoellen, a party seeking substitution for cause must demonstrate the judge’s subjective bias as well as “evidence of prejudicial trial conduct” (Hoellen, 367 Ill. App. 3d at 248), and he questions how Hoellen can be reconciled with Wheatley, a decision in which, without reference to any prejudicial conduct of the original trial judge and…