United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (in case citation

Case citation

Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...

s, N.D. Ill.) is the trial-level court

United States district court

The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...

with jurisdiction over the northern counties of Illinois.

Appeals from the Northern District of Illinois are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the courts in the following districts:* Central District of Illinois* Northern District of Illinois...

(except for patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act

Tucker Act

Through the Tucker Act , the United States government has waived its sovereign immunity with respect to certain lawsuits....

, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

-Vacancies and pending nominations:-List of former judges:-Chief judges:Notwithstanding the foregoing, when the court was initially created, Congress had to resolve which chief judge of the predecessor courts would become the first chief judge...

).

The court is divided into two geographical divisions:

The eastern division includes Cook

Cook County, Illinois

Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...

, DuPage

DuPage County, Illinois

As of the 2010 Census, the population of the county was 916,924, White Americans made up 77.9% of Dupage County's population; non-Hispanic whites represented 70.5% of the population. Black Americans made up 4.6% of the population. Native Americans made up 0.3% of Dupage County's population...

, Grundy, Kane

Kane County, Illinois

Kane County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 515,269, which is an increase of 27.5% from 404,119 in 2000. Its county seat is Geneva, and its largest city is Aurora.- Geography :...

, Kendall

Kendall County, Illinois

Kendall County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois, about 40 miles southwest of Chicago. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 114,736, which is an increase of 110% from 54,544 in 2000. It was the fastest-growing county in the United States between the years 2000 and...

, La Salle, Lake

Lake County, Illinois

Lake County is a county in the northeastern corner of the state of Illinois, on the shore of Lake Michigan. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 703,462, which is an increase of 9.2% from 644,356 in 2000. Its county seat is Waukegan. The county is part of the Chicago metropolitan area...

, and Will

Will County, Illinois

As of the census of 2000, there were 502,266 people, 167,542 households, and 131,017 families residing in the county. The population density was 600 people per square mile . There were 175,524 housing units at an average density of 210 per square mile...

counties. Its sessions are held in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

and Wheaton

Wheaton, Illinois

Wheaton is an affluent community located in DuPage County, Illinois, approximately west of Chicago and Lake Michigan. Wheaton is the county seat of DuPage County...

.

The western division includes Boone, Carroll, De Kalb

DeKalb County, Illinois

DeKalb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 105,160, which is an increase of 18.2% from 88,969 in 2000. Its county seat is Sycamore. DeKalb County is part of the Chicago metropolitan statistical area.-History:DeKalb County...

, Jo Daviess

Jo Daviess County, Illinois

Jo Daviess County is a county located in the northwest corner of U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 22,678, which is an increase of 1.7% from 22,289 in 2000. Its county seat is Galena....

, Lee, McHenry

McHenry County, Illinois

McHenry County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 308,760, which is an increase of 18.7% from 260,077 in 2000. Its county seat is Woodstock. This county is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. It is the sixth largest county, in...

, Ogle

Ogle County, Illinois

Ogle County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 53,497, which is an increase of 4.8% from 51,032 in 2000. Its county seat is Oregon, and its largest city is Rochelle...

, Stephenson

Stephenson County, Illinois

As of the census of 2000, there were 48,979 people, 19,785 households, and 13,473 families residing in the county. The population density was 87 people per square mile . There were 21,713 housing units at an average density of 38 per square mile...

, Whiteside, and Winnebago

Winnebago County, Illinois

Winnebago County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 295,266, which is an increase of 6.1% from 278,418 in 2000...

. Its sessions are held in Freeport

Freeport, Illinois

Freeport is a city in and the county seat of Stephenson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 26,443 at the 2000 census. The mayor of Freeport is George W...

and Rockford

Rockford, Illinois

Rockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois. Often referred to as "The Forest City", Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As reported in the 2010 U.S. census, the city was home to 152,871 people, the third most populated...

History

The United States District Court for the District of Illinois was established by a statute passed by the United States Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

on March 3, 1819, 3 Stat. 502. The act established a single office for a judge to preside over the court. Initially, the court was not within any existing judicial circuit, and appeals from the court were taken directly to the United States Supreme Court. In 1837, Congress created the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

, placing it in Chicago, Illinois and giving it jurisdiction over the District of Illinois, 5 Stat. 176.

The Northern District itself was created by a statute passed on February 13, 1855, 10 Stat. 606, which subdivided the District of Illinois into the Northern and the Southern

United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois is a Federal district court covering approximately the southern half of the state of Illinois....

Districts. The boundaries of the District and the seats of the courts were set forth in the statute:

The district has since been re-organized several times. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois is a former federal district court for the state of Illinois. The court was established March 3, 1905, by 33 Stat. 992. The Northern and Southern Districts had been established February 13, 1855...

was created on March 3, 1905 by 33 Stat. 992, by splitting counties out of the Northern and Southern Districts. It was later eliminated in a reorganization on October 2, 1978 which replaced it with a Central

United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois serves the residents of forty-six counties from its four courthouses...

District, 92 Stat. 883, formed primarily from parts of the Southern District, and returning some counties to the Northern District.

Current judges

Vacancies

Reason	Nominee	Date nominated
Senior
Senior
Retired	None	N/A

Former Judges

Judge	Appointed by	Began active service	Ended active service	Ended senior status	End reason
Thomas Drummond Thomas Drummond (judge) Thomas Drummond , was a United States federal judge.Born in Bristol Mills, Maine, Drummond graduated from Bowdoin College in 1830, and read law to enter the Bar in Philadelphia in 1833. He had a private practice in Galena, Illinois, from 1835 to 1850...	Zachary Taylor Zachary Taylor Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States and an American military leader. Initially uninterested in politics, Taylor nonetheless ran as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election, defeating Lewis Cass...			–	reappointment
Henry Williams Blodgett Henry Williams Blodgett Henry Williams Blodgett was a United States federal judge.Blodgett was born in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1821. He moved to Illinois with his parents in 1831...	Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...

} || || – || retirement
|-
| Peter Stenger Grosscup

Peter Stenger Grosscup

Peter Stenger Grosscup was a United States federal judge.Born in Ashland, Ohio, Grosscup received an A.B. from Wittenberg College in 1872 and an LL.B. from Boston Law School in 1873.He was in private practice in Ashland, Ohio from 1873 to 1875 and was then city solicitor of Ashland until 1881...

|| Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States . Harrison, a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at age 21, eventually becoming a prominent politician there...

|| || || – || reappointment
|-
| Christian Cecil Kohlsaat

Christian Cecil Kohlsaat

Christian Cecil Kohlsaat was a United States federal judge.Kohlsaat attended the University of Chicago and received an LL.B. from Illinois Law School, then read law to enter the bar in 1867. He was in private practice in Chicago, Illinois from 1867 to 1890...

|| William McKinley

William McKinley

William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...

|| || || – || reappointment
|-
| Solomon Hicks Bethea

Solomon Hicks Bethea

Solomon Hicks Bethea was a United States federal judge.Bethea read law in 1876. He was in private practice in Dixon from 1877 to 1898. He was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives from 1882 to 1883 and mayor of Dixon. He was a U.S...

|| Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

|| || || – || death
|-
| Kenesaw Mountain Landis

Kenesaw Mountain Landis

Kenesaw Mountain Landis was an American jurist who served as a federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and as the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death...

|| Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

|| || || – || resignation
|-
| George Albert Carpenter

George Albert Carpenter

George Albert Carpenter was a United States federal judge.Carpenter was born in Chicago, Illinois. He received a B.A. from Harvard University in 1888. He received an LL.B. from Harvard Law School in 1891. He was in private practice in Chicago, Illinois from 1891 to 1905...

|| William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...

|| || || – || resignation
|-
| Adam C. Cliffe

Adam C. Cliffe

Adam C. Cliffe was a United States federal judge.Cliffe was born in Sycamore, Illinois, and received an LL.B. from Northwestern University, and read law to enter the Bar in 1897. He was in private practice of law in Sycamore, Illinois from 1897 to 1920, and was also a member of the Illinois House...

|| Warren G. Harding

Warren G. Harding

Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...

|| || || – || death
|-
| James Herbert Wilkerson

James Herbert Wilkerson

James Herbert Wilkerson was a United States federal judge.Born in Savannah, Missouri, Wilkerson received an A.B. from DePauw University in 1889. He was in private practice in Chicago, Illinois from 1893 to 1922...

|| Warren G. Harding

Warren G. Harding

|| || || || death
|-
| Charles Edgar Woodward

Charles Edgar Woodward

Charles Edgar Woodward was a United States federal judge.Born in New Salem, Pennsylvania, Woodward was educated at Northwestern University, and he read law to enter the bar in 1899...

|| Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge

John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...

|| || || – || death
|-
| John Peter Barnes

John Peter Barnes

John Peter Barnes was a United States federal judge.Born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Barnes received a B.S. from Geneva College in 1904 and an LL.B. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1907. He was in private practice in Chicago, Illinois from 1907 to 1913...

|| Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...

|| || || || resignation
|-
| George E. Q. Johnson

George E. Q. Johnson

George E. Q. Johnson was a U.S. Attorney in Chicago, Illinois who successfully won tax evasion convictions of Al Capone and several of his associates. He briefly served as a United States federal judge....

|| Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover

|| || || – || not confirmed
|-
| William Joseph Campbell

William Joseph Campbell

Hon. William Joseph Campbell was a United States federal judge and the longest serving Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. In 1970 the Library of the United States Courts of the Seventh Circuit was named "The William J. Campbell Library of the...

|| Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

|| || || || death
|-
| William Harrison Holly

William Harrison Holly

William Harrison Holly was a United States federal judge.Born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, Holly read law to enter the bar in 1891. He was in private practice in Macomb, Illinois from 1891 to 1902, and then in Chicago, Illinois until 1914...

|| Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

|| || || || death
|-
| Michael L. Igoe

Michael L. Igoe

Michael Lambert Igoe was a United States Representative from Illinois. He was educated in the parochial schools and De La Salle Institute in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from the law department of Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., in 1908...

|| Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

|| || || || death
|-
| Walter J. LaBuy

Walter J. LaBuy

Walter J. LaBuy was a United States federal judge.Born in Dodge County, Wisconsin, LaBuy received an LL.B. from DePaul University College of Law in 1912. He was in private practice in Chicago, Illinois from 1912 to 1933. He was a member of the Board of Commissioners, Cook County, Illinois from...

|| Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

|| || || || death
|-
| Elwyn Riley Shaw

Elwyn Riley Shaw

Elwyn Riley Shaw was a United States federal judge.Born in Lyndon, Illinois, Shaw received an LL.B. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1910, and immediately entered private practice in Freeport, Illinois. He was a judge on the Supreme Court of Illinois from 1933 to 1942, serving as...

|| Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

|| || || – || death
|-
| Philip Leo Sullivan

Philip Leo Sullivan

Philip Leo Sullivan was a United States federal judge.Born in Marengo, Illinois, Sullivan received an LL.B. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 1911. He was in private practice in Chicago, Illinois from 1911 to 1916. He was a Master in chancery, Superior Court of Cook County from 1916...

|| Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

|| || || – || death
|-
| Joseph Sam Perry

Joseph Sam Perry

Joseph Samuel Perry was a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.-Early life and education:...

|| Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...

|| || || || death
|-
| Julius Hoffman

Julius Hoffman

Julius J. Hoffman was a Chicago, Illinois, attorney and judge and former law partner of Richard J. Daley who achieved notoriety for his role in the Chicago Seven trial.-Early life:...

|| Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

|| || || || death
|-
| Winfred George Knoch

Winfred George Knoch

Winfred George Knoch was a United States federal judge.Born in Naperville, Illinois, Knoch received an LL.B. from DePaul University in 1917. He immediately entered private practice in Naperville, Illinois, but served as a lieutenant in the United States Army infantry during World War I, from 1917...

|| Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

|| || || – || reappointment
|-
| Julius Howard Miner

Julius Howard Miner

Julius Howard Miner was a United States federal judge.Born in Lubon, Russia, Miner received an LL.B. from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1917 and an LL.M. from Northwestern University School of Law in 1945. He was in private practice in Chicago, Illinois from 1917 to 1924...

|| Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

|| || || – || death
|-
| Edwin Albert Robson

Edwin Albert Robson

Edwin Albert Robson was a United States federal judge.Born in Chicago, Illinois, Robson received an LL.B. from DePaul University College of Law in 1928. He was in private practice in Chicago, Illinois from 1928 to 1945. He was a judge on the Superior Court, Cook County, Illinois from 1945 to 1949...

|| Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

|| || || || death
|-
| Richard Bevan Austin

Richard Bevan Austin

Richard Bevan Austin was a United States federal judge.Born in Chicago, Illinois, Austin received a Ph.B. from Denison University in 1923 and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1926...

|| John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy