If one of the hallmarks of a good judge is the ability to tell it straight, then the Honorable P. Michael Mahoney '68, JD, can be judged as good.
Ask about the influence his St. Ambrose education had on Mahoney's stellar legal career and his response will be affirmative and emphatic.
"St. Ambrose taught me the basic difference between right and wrong," Mahoney said with no hesitation. "During my time at St. Ambrose, the professors fostered that and to some extent preached it. I was basically told that I have an obligation to the greater good and that I was not at the university to learn how to make money and protect my money. I was instructed that the whole idea of being educated was to learn how to go out in the world and do something to help the average person and, in particular, help someone on the poor end of the spectrum."
Over three decades as a U.S. Magistrate Justice, Mahoney served his education well.
He earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois in 1971, and that same year joined the Freeport, Ill., law firm founded by his father.
Five years later, Mahoney was appointed a part-time U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Western Division of the Northern District of Illinois. He held that position until 1992, when he was appointed full-time U.S. Magistrate Judge for the same district. He fully retired from the bench in May 2014 and now serves as an arbitrator and mediator.
As a judge, Mahoney heard thousands of cases across a broad spectrum of jurisprudence. And while it may be a stretch to single out one case as the most important in a 44-year legal career, the landmark People Who Care v. The Rockford (Ill.) Board of Education certainly sits near the top.
Originally filed in 1989, the civil suit eventually ended up on Judge Mahoney's docket in 1992. The case centered on alleged discrimination in the Rockford schools. Mahoney eventually ruled that the school district had consistently violated the law through a pattern of intentional discrimination.
The school district planned to close schools in older parts of community and replace them with newer schools in areas that would place an undue transportation burden on minority students and poor families. Mahoney ruled this was a violation of plaintiffs' civil rights and forced the district to proceed in a more equitable manner.
"Basically what was happening was that new schools were going where new houses were being built," he explained. "In my opinion, I stated that the district needed to look at black and white and rich and poor. We required the district to build new schools that had a magnet quality and that attracted students from all over the district with no geographic imbalance."
Mahoney said his St. Ambrose experience helped him reach that historic decision.
"St. Ambrose helped me a great deal in the desegregation cases," he said. "When I went to St. Ambrose, there was a lot of discussion going on about how to desegregate the South and the North and how to help poor people who had been deprived.
"And it's important to note that the instructors at St. Ambrose did that from both sides of the spectrum- liberal and conservative," he continued. "John Norton '56, PhD, and Rev. Jack Smith had a huge impact in that regard. They both taught me to look at an individual situation and make a determination that is fair and reasonable."
–Steven Lillybeck
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