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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
IN MEMORY OF THE HONORABLE JUDGE WILLIAM COUSINS JR.
WHEREAS, William Cousins Jr, former Justice of the Illinois Appellate Court, Cook County Prosecutor, trial attorney, Alderman of the 8th Ward, community leader and a man who spent his life deeply devoted to faith, family and public service died January 20th at the age of 90. He left behind countless friends, family and a community deeply enriched for having known him; and
WHEREAS, William Cousins was born a small Mississippi community within a stone's throw of the place where Emmett Till was killed. At an early age he confronted issues of racism and violence and was an eye-witness to many of the social pathologies and lack of opportunity associated with poverty. Neither of his parents had much schooling but they were tireless in securing an education for their son. The family moved to Memphis and later to Chicago in 1938. His exceptional academic talent revealed itself early in life; he graduated from DuSable High School where he earned top grades, ran track, and served as president of his senior class; and
WHEREAS, William Cousins received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1948. While there, he excelled both academically and as a cadet in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. He starred on the school's debate team, never losing a debate. For his bachelor's degree in political science, he wrote a thesis on stare decisis et non quieta movere--Latin for "to adhere to precedent and not disturb settled principles." He concluded that adhering to precedent was essential for a stable system of justice in a society, even though it meant that societal injustices would only be corrected "with provoking slowness." Precedent need not be abandoned to make society more fair, he wrote; instead, "the quality of our judges should be improved." Nearly three decades before he would become one himself, Cousins wrote, "While judges...
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