COVER STORY
Celebrating today’s historymakers
I love Women’s History Month because it reminds us of the many great women who have served our country and changed the world in the past. But I also think it’s important to remember that, today and every day, women in our communities are making history and living lives that will inspire future generations.
So as Women’s History Month comes to a close, I’d like to honor one of our neighbors who is making history in our time: the Hon. Chantelle Porter, the first Black woman to serve in the 18th Judicial Circuit of DuPage County.
Chantelle Porter grew up in Hanover Park, the oldest of three children. Public service runs in her family: Her mother was an elementary school teacher who served on the Elgin area U-46 school board, and her father worked in business management and now serves as a trustee in Hanover Park.
Young Chantelle showed early promise as an advocate. Her parents proudly saved an “appeal” she wrote at the age of 12, when she complained that her punishment for a minor infraction violated her rights under the 8th Amendment. (That’s the one that bans cruel and unusual punishments.) She went on to star in high school debate, and then earned her bachelor’s degree in history at Ohio State University. As a law student at DePaul University, she worked at the Cook County Public Guardian’s Office and the DuPage County Public Defender’s Office.
After passing the bar, she returned to the DuPage County Public Defender’s Office, where she rose to Supervisor of the Juvenile Division. She then moved to private practice, where she spent 15 years advocating for children through family law and working as a Guardian Ad Litem. She was appointed to the judiciary on December 12, 2022.
In an interview soon after she was appointed, Judge Porter said she considers her role on the bench as a “sacred trust.”
“Judges are the first face of the legal system,” she said. “We want people to walk out of a courthouse with faith in the legal system.”