Forging a path

Sanjay Tailor (JD ’91) takes his seat on the Illinois Supreme Court

When Illinois Supreme Court Justice Sanjay Tailor (JD ’91) was sworn in as the court’s newest member on January 30, 2026, it marked a historic occasion: Tailor is the first Asian American justice to be appointed to the court. But Tailor doesn’t get too swept up in that fact.

“I’m mindful and cognizant of how significant and important it is to the community, but personally, for me, it’s just not something I talk about,” Tailor said during a recent interview inside his art-filled chambers in downtown Chicago. One prominently featured painting is a large, colorful work by the artist Gurdeep Singh that he brought home from a recent trip to India. Just outside his office are photographs of Thomas Cole’s The Course of Empire paintings, which depict the growth and eventual demise of an imaginary civilization—a reminder, he said, of what’s at stake. “I think we all want to be judged by what’s up here,” he said, motioning toward his head, “and here,” pointing toward his heart.

For Tailor, his appointment to the court, filling the vacancy created by Mary Jane Theis (BA ’71), who served as chief justice from 2022 to 2025 and retired in January, represents the latest step in a professional journey that began some 40 years earlier.

As an undergrad, the Maryland native studied biological sciences at the University of Delaware. After earning his bachelor’s degree, he began working in a genetics research lab while mulling his next steps, but something wasn’t clicking: “I wasn’t sure I wanted to work in a lab,” he said.

During the summer of 1987, Tailor found himself, along with much of the nation, engrossed by the televised Iran–Contra hearings. The proceedings revealed Reagan administration officials’ illegal efforts to sell firearms to Iran to fund the Nicaraguan Contras, a right-wing rebel group, and resulted in the conviction of several White House officials. Tailor almost immediately saw parallels between his education in science and the practice of law.

“I remember watching the lawyers representing their clients before Congress,” Tailor said. “The power of advocacy and the power of the lawyer to push back is something that stuck with me, and I think that what I learned in science—the attention to detail, looking at data—all of it translates perfectly.”

Tailor graduated cum laude from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. After five years in the private sector—first at the law firm Chapman and Cutler and later as in-house counsel at First National Bank of Chicago, Tailor transitioned to public service, serving as an assistant state’s attorney for Cook County through 2003.

The state Supreme Court justice credits his time at Loyola with forging his path. His hunger for litigating cases led him down a track that at the time was less lucrative, but more fulfilling.

“I wanted to try cases, and the best place to do it is in government,” he said. “For me, what was more valuable [than financial compensation] was getting the trial experience.”

In 2003, Taylor moved to the other side of the bench, serving as an associate judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County for 18 years before the Illinois Supreme Court appointed him as circuit judge in 2021. That appointment—followed by his election to the position in 2022—laid the groundwork for his latest achievement.

Along the way, Tailor imparted his knowledge back to Loyola students, teaching a civil procedure course as an adjunct professor for more than two decades.

He says his time teaching reinforced what he had always loved about Loyola. The students are “passionate about the law,” Tailor said. “I think that really speaks to Loyola and its reputation for producing outstanding lawyers and judges.” –Joe Erbentraut (July 2026)