Chicago Tribune editorial:

Back in 2005, plaintiff’s attorneys had asked Karmeier to recuse himself from the State Farm case because, they said, his campaign had accepted at least $350,000 from State Farm officers, employees, lawyers and others connected to the insurer.

Karmeier refused to recuse himself. The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the decision was up to him. The plaintiff’s lawyers took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 2006 declined to hear the matter.

Now the plaintiff’s lawyers have petitioned the Illinois Supreme Court to revive their case. They allege that State Farm funneled much more than $350,000 to Karmeier. The lawyers say State Farm contributed $2.4 million to $4 million of Karmeier’s $4.8 million budget. Nearly all of that money reached Karmeier, they allege, through the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and a tort-reform group called the Illinois Civil Justice League.

State Farm says the lawyers have uncovered nothing new and nothing wrong — and the company denies it contributed such gaudy sums for the campaign.

We note that Karmeier’s vote was decisive only on part of the State Farm litigation. The court voted 6-0 to reverse punitive damages and other major points in the case. Karmeier’s vote was crucial to overturning a set of claims involving $212 million, or about one-fifth of the total judgment.