New judge wants to move up Ed Burke’s racketeering trial, but calendars are full

The new judge presiding over Ald. Edward M. Burke’s federal racketeering case is hoping to move up his long-awaited trial set for November 2023 — but it’s not looking good.

Lawyers for Burke (14th) and his co-defendants made their first appearance Thursday before U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall, who quickly asked them, “Why the late trial date?”

But she was soon confronted with the same scheduling issues faced by her predecessor, U.S. District Judge Robert Dow. The lawyers already have other lengthy trials set as Chicago’s federal court tries to move past the COVID-19 pandemic.

Their discussion Thursday with Kendall suggested a best-case scenario in which Burke’s trial is moved up a month or so. The judge asked the lawyers to talk about it further, and she set another status hearing for Nov. 30.

There was no discussion of delaying the trial.

Also charged in the case are Burke political aide Peter J. Andrews and developer Charles Cui.

Burke seemed to finally have a solid trial date when Dow in July scheduled the longtime politician to face a jury Nov. 6, 2023. But less than three months later, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that Dow would soon be starting a new job serving as chief of staff to Chief Justice John Roberts.

That injected new uncertainty into the Burke case, which has lingered for more than three years because of the pandemic and a mountain of pretrial motions filed in August 2020 that Dow just ruled on in June.

The case was quickly reassigned to Kendall, though.

Burke faces charges accusing him of using his seat on the City Council to steer business to his private law firm amid schemes that involved the Old Post Office, a Burger King at 41st Street and Pulaski Road and a redevelopment project on the Northwest Side.

The case was built largely with the help of then-Ald. Danny Solis (25th), who cooperated with the feds after an investigation into his own activities. He has been charged with bribery but could ultimately see the charge against him dismissed as a result of a deal he struck with prosecutors.

Burke was reelected in February 2019 despite an attempted extortion charge filed against him the month prior. A grand jury handed up his racketeering indictment later, in May 2019. The recent retirement of his wife, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, has fueled speculation about whether he will run in 2023.