United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

Northern District of Illinois
Seventh Circuit
Judgeships
Posts: 23
Judges: 23
Vacancies: 0
Judges
Chief: Virginia Kendall
Active judges: Georgia Alexakis, Jorge L. Alonso, John Robert Blakey, Edmond E. Chang, Sharon Coleman, Jeffrey Cummings, Jeremy Daniel, Robert Dow, Sara Lee Ellis, Sunil Harjani, LaShonda A. Hunt, Lindsay Jenkins, Iain David Johnston, Virginia Kendall, John Kness, Martha Pacold, April Perry, Mary Rowland, Steven Seeger, Manish Shah, John Tharp Jr., Franklin Ulyses Valderrama, Andrea R. Wood Senior judges: Marvin Aspen, Elaine Bucklo, Suzanne Conlon, Thomas M. Durkin, Robert Gettleman, Joan Gottschall, Ronald Guzman, Frederick Kapala, Matthew Kennelly, Charles Kocoras, Joan Lefkow, George Marovich, Charles Norgle, Rebecca Pallmeyer, Philip Reinhard, James Zagel

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois is one of 94 United States district courts. The district operates out of Chicago and Rockford, Illinois. When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit located in the same courthouse as the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago.

Vacancies

See also: Current federal judicial vacancies

There no current vacancies on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, out of the court's 23 judicial positions.

Pending nominations

There are no pending nominees for this court.

Active judges

Article III judges

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
Virginia Kendall	George W. Bush (R)	January 3, 2006 -	Northwestern University, 1984	Loyola University, Chicago, 1992
Robert Dow	George W. Bush (R)	December 5, 2007 -	Yale University, 1987	Harvard Law School, 1993
Sharon Coleman	Barack Obama (D)	July 13, 2010 -	Northern Illinois University, 1981	University of Washington School of Law, 1984
Edmond E. Chang	Barack Obama (D)	December 20, 2010 -	University of Michigan,E., 1991	Northwestern University School of Law, 1994
John Tharp Jr.	Barack Obama (D)	May 16, 2012 -	Duke University, 1982	Northwestern University Law, 1990
Sara Lee Ellis	Barack Obama (D)	October 8, 2013 -	Indiana University, 1991	Loyola University Law, Chicago, 1994
Andrea R. Wood	Barack Obama (D)	October 15, 2013 -	University of Chicago, 1995	Yale Law School, 1998
Manish Shah	Barack Obama (D)	May 1, 2014 -	Stanford University, 1994	University of Chicago Law School, 1998
John Robert Blakey	Barack Obama (D)	December 19, 2014 -	University of Notre Dame, 1988	University of Notre Dame, 1992
Jorge L. Alonso	Barack Obama (D)	December 19, 2014 -	University of Miami, 1988	George Washington University Law Center, 1991
Martha Pacold	Donald Trump (R)	August 19, 2019 -	Indiana University, 1999	University of Chicago Law School, 2002
Mary Rowland	Donald Trump (R)	August 20, 2019 -	University of Michigan, 1984	University of Chicago Law School, 1988
Steven Seeger	Donald Trump (R)	September 13, 2019 -	Wheaton College, 1993	University of Michigan Law School, 1997
John Kness	Donald Trump (R)	February 18, 2020 -	Northwestern University, 1991	Northwestern University, 2003
Franklin Ulyses Valderrama	Donald Trump (R)	September 23, 2020 -	University of Illinois, Chicago, 1985	DePaul University College of Law, 1988
Iain David Johnston	Donald Trump (R)	September 23, 2020 -	Rockford College, 1987	University of Illinois-Chicago, John Marshall Law School, 1990
Lindsay Jenkins	Joe Biden (D)	February 24, 2023 -	Miami University of Ohio, 1998	Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University, 2002
LaShonda A. Hunt	Joe Biden (D)	May 26, 2023 -	University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1992	University of Michigan Law School, 1995
Jeremy Daniel	Joe Biden (D)	June 6, 2023 -
Jeffrey Cummings	Joe Biden (D)	October 10, 2023 -	Michigan State University, 1984	Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, 1987
Sunil Harjani	Joe Biden (D)	March 20, 2024 -	Northwestern University	Northwestern University Law School
Georgia Alexakis	Joe Biden (D)	August 2, 2024 -	Harvard University, 2000	Northwestern University School of Law, 2006
April Perry	Joe Biden (D)	November 20, 2024 -	Northwestern University, 2000	Northwestern University School of Law, 2003

Active Article III judges by appointing political party

The list below displays the number of active judges by the party of the appointing president. It does not reflect how a judge may rule on specific cases or their own political preferences.

• Democrat appointed: 15
• Republican appointed: 8

Senior judges

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
George Marovich	Ronald Reagan (R)	January 2, 2000 -	University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1952	University of Illinois College of Law, 1954
Marvin Aspen	Jimmy Carter (D)	July 1, 2002 -	Northwestern University, 1956	Northwestern University School of Law, 1958
Suzanne Conlon	Ronald Reagan (R)	April 17, 2004 -	Mundelein College, 1963	Loyola University, Chicago School of Law, 1968
Charles Kocoras	Jimmy Carter (D)	June 30, 2006 -	De Paul University, 1961	De Paul University College of Law, 1969
Philip Reinhard	George H.W. Bush (R)	January 12, 2007 -	University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1962	University of Illinois College of Law, 1964
Robert Gettleman	Bill Clinton (D)	May 5, 2009 -	Boston University, 1965	Northwestern University School of Law, 1968
Elaine Bucklo	Bill Clinton (D)	October 31, 2009 -	Saint Louis University, 1966	Northwestern University School of Law, 1972
Joan Gottschall	Bill Clinton (D)	April 23, 2012 -	Smith College, 1969	Stanford Law School, 1973
Joan Lefkow	Bill Clinton (D)	September 1, 2012 -	Wheaton College, 1965	Northwestern University Law School, 1971
Ronald Guzman	Bill Clinton (D)	November 16, 2014 -	Lehigh University, 1970	New York University Law School, 1973
James Zagel	Ronald Reagan (R)	October 21, 2016 -	University of Chicago, 1962	Harvard Law School, 1965
Frederick Kapala	George W. Bush (R)	May 10, 2019 -	Marquette University, 1972	University of Illinois College of Law, 1976
Matthew Kennelly	Bill Clinton (D)	October 7, 2021 -	University of Notre Dame, 1978	Harvard Law School, 1981
Charles Norgle		October 4, 2022 -	Northwestern University, 1964	University of Illinois-Chicago, John Marshall Law School, 1969
Thomas M. Durkin	Barack Obama (D)	January 3, 2024 -	University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1975	DePaul University Law, 1978
Rebecca Pallmeyer	Bill Clinton (D)	August 1, 2024 -	University of Valparaiso, 1976	University of Chicago Law School, 1979

Senior judges by appointing political party

The list below displays the number of senior judges by the party of the appointing president. It does not reflect how a judge may rule on specific cases or their own political preferences.

• Democrat appointed: 10
• Republican appointed: 6

Magistrate judges

Federal magistrate judges are federal judges who serve in United States district courts, but they are not appointed by the president and they do not serve life terms. Magistrate judges are assigned duties by the district judges in the district in which they serve. They may preside over most phases of federal proceedings, except for criminal felony trials. The specific duties of a magistrate judge vary from district to district, but the responsibilities always include handling matters that would otherwise be on the dockets of the district judges. Full-time magistrate judges serve for renewable terms of eight years. Some federal district courts have part-time magistrate judges, who serve for renewable terms of four years.

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
Jeffrey Cole		May 6, 2005 -
Maria Valdez		May 20, 2005 -
Susan Cox		April 19, 2007 -	Allegheny College, 1980	Boston University Law, 1983
Sheila Finnegan		April 26, 2010 -
Jeffrey Gilbert		May 7, 2010 -
Young Kim		May 7, 2010 -
M. David Weisman		June 16, 2016 -
Lisa Jensen		April 12, 2019 -
Gabriel Fuentes		May 31, 2019 -
Beth Jantz		February 12, 2020 -	Dartmouth College	Northwestern University Law School
Heather McShain		May 1, 2020 -
Margaret Schneider	United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois	February 11, 2021 -

Former chief judges

In order to qualify for the office of chief judge in an Article III circuit or district court, or on the United States Court of International Trade, a judge must be in active service and hold seniority over the court's commissioned judges who are 64 years of age or under, have served one year or more, and have not previously served as chief judge.

In the event that no judge on the court meets those qualifications, the youngest judge in regular active service aged 65 years or more and who has served as a judge for one year or more shall become chief judge. If no judge meets those qualifications, the judge holding seniority in active service who has not served as chief before shall become the chief judge.

The chief judge serves for a term of seven years until another judge becomes eligible to serve in the position. No judge is permitted to serve as chief judge after reaching the age of 70 years unless no other judge is qualified to serve.

Unlike the chief justice of the United States, a chief judge returns to active service after the expiration of their term and does not create a vacancy on the court by the fact of their promotion.

On the United States Court of Federal Claims, the chief judge is selected by the president of the United States. The judge must be less than 70 years of age. A chief may serve until they reach age 70 or until another judge is designated by the president as the new chief judge. If the president selects a new chief judge, the former chief judge may continue active service on the court for the remainder of their appointed term.

Rebecca Pallmeyer - (2019 - 2024) Ruben Castillo - (2013 - 2019) James Holderman - (2006 - 2013) Charles Kocoras - (2002 - 2006) Marvin Aspen - (1995 - 2002) James B. Moran - (1990 - 1995) John F. Grady - (1986 - 1990) Frank McGarr - (1981 - 1986)

James B. Parsons - (1975 - 1981) Edwin Robson - (1970 - 1975) William Campbell - (1959 - 1970) Philip Leo Sullivan - (1957 - 1959) John Peter Barnes - (1948 - 1957)

Former judges

For more information about the judges of the Northern District of Illinois, see former federal judges of the Northern District of Illinois.

Jurisdiction

The Counties of the Northern District of Illinois (click for larger map)

The Northern District of Illinois has original jurisdiction over cases filed within its jurisdiction. These cases can include civil and criminal matters that fall under federal law.

There are two court divisions, each covering the following counties:

The Eastern Division, covering Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake County, LaSalle, and Will counties

The Western Division, covering Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Lee, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside, and Winnebago counties

Caseloads

This section contains court management statistics dating back to 2010. It was last updated in September 2024.

Click [show] below for more information on caseload terms and definitions.

Caseload statistics explanation
Term	Explanation
Cases filed and terminated	The number of civil and criminal lawsuits formally initiated or decided by the court in a calendar year. The chart below reflects the table columns Cases filed and Cases terminated.
Average time from filing to disposition	The average amount of time, in months, from a case's date of filing to date of disposition (acquittal, sentencing, dismissal, etc.). The chart below reflects the table columns Median time (Criminal) and Median time (Civil).
Starting case load	The number of cases pending from the previous calendar year.
Cases filed	The number of civil and criminal lawsuits formally initiated in a calendar year.
Cases terminated	The total number of civil and criminal lawsuits decided by the court in a calendar year.
Remaining cases	The number of civil and criminal cases pending at the end of a given year.
Median time (Criminal)	The average amount of time, in months, from a case's date of filing to the date of disposition. In criminal cases, the date of disposition occurs on the day of sentencing or acquittal/dismissal.
Median time (Civil)	The average amount of time, in months, from a case's date of filing to the date of disposition.
Three-year civil cases	The number and percent of civil cases that were filed more than three years before the end of the given calendar year.
Vacant posts	The number of months during the year an authorized judgeship was vacant.
Trial/Post	The number of trials completed divided by the number of authorized judgeships on the court. Trials include evidentiary trials, hearings on temporary restraining orders, and preliminary injunctions.
Source: United States Courts, "Explanation of the Judicial Caseload Profiles for United States District Courts," accessed September 25, 2018

United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois caseload stats, 2010-2023
Year	Cases Filed	Cases Terminated	Cases Pending	Number of Judgeships	Vacant Judgeship Months	Average Total Filings per Judgeship	Trials Completed per Judgeship	Median time from filing to disposition, criminal	Median time from filing to disposition, civil	Three-year civil cases (#)	Three-year civil cases (%)
2010	10,255	9,389	11,246	22	52	466	15	16	6	1,248	14
2011	10,532	9,942	10,728	22	36	479	16	16	7	1,215	13
2012	12,037	11,054	12,441	22	42	547	13	18	7	1,029	10
2013	11,204	11,300	12,391	22	31	509	13	17	7	987	10
2014	11,897	10,690	13,476	22	11	541	12	18	7	1,094	9
2015	13,284	11,011	15,716	22	0	604	11	19	7	1,473	11
2016	12,936	10,710	18,129	22	2	588	11	19	7	1,382	9
2017	10,793	11,694	17,216	22	22	491	13	19	9	1,973	13
2018	10,328	10,834	16,705	22	42	469	9	18	8	4,289	29
2019	10,093	10,930	15,874	22	45	459	10	15	8	5,067	37
2020	9,578	12,510	12,910	22	18	435	4	21	21	1,570	15
2021	8,316	8,826	12,341	22	15	378	8	23	7	1,749	18
2022	8,545	8,872	12,018	22	7	388	8	24	7	2,194	22
2023	18,273	9,072	21,229	22	29	831	11	29	6	2,489	13
Average	11,291	10,488	14,459	22	25	513	11	19	8	1,983	16

History

Illinois was established as one judicial district by Congress on March 3, 1819, with one post to cover the entire state. The district court was not yet assigned to a judicial circuit and was therefore granted the same jurisdiction as the United States circuit courts, excluding appeals and writs of error, which are the jurisdiction of the United States Supreme Court.

Congress repealed the circuit court jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the District of Illinois on March 3, 1837, established a United States circuit court within the district, and assigned it over to the Seventh Circuit.

Illinois was divided into two judicial districts on February 13, 1855. The districts were known as the Northern District of Illinois and the Southern District of Illinois. One judgeship was assigned to each district and the District of Illinois was assigned over to the Northern District of Illinois.

Congress reorganized the circuits on July 15, 1862, and assigned Illinois to the Eighth Circuit and then to the Seventh Circuit on July 23, 1866.

The Eastern District of Illinois was established on March 3, 1905. One judgeship was authorized for the district court, as well as an additional judgeship to the Northern District of Illinois. Illinois was again reorganized into the Northern District of Illinois, the Central District of Illinois, and the Southern District of Illinois on October 2, 1978. Thirteen judgeships were assigned for the Northern District of Illinois, two for the Central District of Illinois, and two for the Southern District of Illinois. Over time, nine additional judicial posts were added for a total of twenty-two posts.

Judicial posts

The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the Northern District of Illinois:

Year	Statute	Total Seats
March 3, 1819	3 Stat. 502	1
February 13, 1855	10 Stat. 606	1
March 3, 1905	33 Stat. 992	2
May 29, 1928	45 Stat. 974	3
February 25, 1931	46 Stat. 1417	5
May 31, 1938	52 Stat. 584	6
May 24, 1940	54 Stat. 219	7(1 temporary)
August 14, 1950	64 Stat. 443	8
May 19, 1961	75 Stat. 80	10
March 18, 1966	80 Stat. 75	11
June 2, 1970	84 Stat. 294	13
October 2, 1978	92 Stat. 883	13
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	16
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	21(1 temporary)
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	22
December 5, 2022	28 U.S.C. §133(b)	23

Noteworthy cases

For a searchable list of opinions, please see Justia.com-Dockets and Filings-Northern District of Illinois.

• Sherlock Holmes characters no longer protected by copyright (2013)      Judge(s):Ruben Castillo (Klinger v. Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd., 1:13-cv-01226)	Click for summary→
On December 23, 2013, Judge Ruben Castillo found that characters from the pre-1923 Sherlock Holmes (Holmes) series of novels, including the titular Holmes and his sidekick, Dr. John Watson, entered the public domain, and were no longer protected by copyright. Style and character elements from the works published post-1923, however, were still protected by copyright. In the underlying case, in February 2013, Sherlock Holmes expert Leslie Klinger sued the Conan Doyle Estate Ltd, alleging that the estate’s copyright on the literary characters was invalid, as much of the famous book series -- as well as the elements and characters within it -- was published in the United States prior to January 1, 1923. Klinger therefore alleged that they became part of the public domain in 1980, fifty years after the author Conan Doyle’s death. Klinger also claimed that any post-1923 works were not entitled to copyright protection under the law of incremental expression. As plaintiff, Klinger sought a declaratory judgment that members of the public were entitled to use elements and characters from the Holmes series as they wished without fear of intellectual property repercussions from the Doyle estate. Judge Castillo agreed with Klinger as to his first allegation, writing that “[i]t is a bedrock principle of copyright that ‘once work enters the public domain it cannot be appropriated as private (intellectual property)’ and even the most creative of legal theories cannot trump this tenet.” He disagreed, however, with Klinger’s second allegation, contending that the plaintiff’s arguments were “unavailing and overcome by the relevant case law” on the subject.

• Judge vacates ruling on NSA surveillance evidence (2013)      Judge(s):Sharon Johnson Coleman (U.S. v. Daoud, 1:12-cr-00723)	Click for summary→
On September 1, 2013, Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman vacated her own ruling in a case involving constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. In the underlying case, Adel Daoud, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen, was charged in a terrorism case after being accused of trying to detonate what he believed to be a bomb in downtown Chicago. Daoud was allegedly identified as a potential terrorist through an examination of his digital footprint. On August 28, 2013, Judge Coleman initially found that because the government did not intend to use it at trial, federal prosecutors did not need to provide information as to whether its evidence against Daoud was based on data gleaned from the National Security Agency’s enhanced surveillance techniques. Days later, Judge Coleman changed course, reopening debate to “allow further examination” as to the nature of the government’s classified evidence against Daoud.

• Michael Jordan image infringement case (2012)      Judge(s):Gary Feinerman (Jordan v. Jewel Food Stores, Inc, No. 10 C 340)	Click for summary→
On February 16, 2012, Judge Gary Feinerman ruled against basketball player Michael Jordan in a lawsuit against a store chain who made reference to Jordan in an ad-like magazine layout. According to Feinerman, the layout was constitutionally protected free speech, and did not constitute an advertisement. The lawsuit centered around a layout published by Sports Illustrated in 2009. In it, Jewel congratulated Jordan on his induction to the Basketball Hall of Fame, and included their logo in the layout. It also included basketball shoes with the number "23" on them, in reference to Jordan's jersey number while playing with the Chicago Bulls. Judge Feinerman's ruling stated that because the layout wasn't attempting to sell anything, there was no misappropriation of Jordan's image. He rejected the argument from Jordan's attorneys that the food chain didn't need to be selling a particular item to have used Jordan's image to promote the company.

Federal courthouse

Two separate courthouses serve the Northern District of Illinois. The eastern division of the district is served by the Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse in Chicago, and the western division is served by the Stanley J. Roszkowski United States Courthouse in Rockford.

About United States District Courts

The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal courts. There are 94 such courts. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of both law and equity.

There is a United States bankruptcy court and a number of bankruptcy judges associated with each United States district court. Each federal judicial district has at least one courthouse, and most districts have more than one.

There is at least one judicial district for each state, and one each for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. District courts in three insular areas—the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands—exercise the same jurisdiction as U.S. district courts. Despite their name, these courts are technically not District Courts of the United States. Judges on these territorial courts do not enjoy the protections of Article III of the Constitution, and serve terms of 10 years rather than for life.

There are 677 U.S. District Court judgeships.

The number of federal district judge positions is set by the U.S. Congress in Title 28 of the U.S. Code, Section 133, which authorizes a set number of judge positions, or judgeships, making changes and adjustments in these numbers from time to time.

In order to relieve the pressure of trying the hundreds of thousands of cases brought before the federal district courts each year, many trials are tried by juries, along with a presiding judge.

Appointments by president

The chart below shows the number of district court judges confirmed by the U.S. Senate through November 1 of the fourth year of each president's term in office. At this point in the term, President Bill Clinton had the most district court appointments with 169.

Judges by district

See also: Judicial vacancies in federal courts

The table below displays the number of judges in each district and indicates how many were appointed by presidents from each major political party. It also includes the number of vacancies in a district and how many pending nominations for that district are before the United States Senate. The table can be sorted by clicking the column headers above the line, and you can navigate through the pages by clicking the arrows at the top of the table. It is updated every Monday.

Judicial selection

The district courts are served by Article III federal judges who are appointed for life during "good behavior." They are usually first recommended by senators (or members of the House, occasionally). The President of the United States makes the appointments, which must then be confirmed by the U.S. Senate in accordance with Article III of the United States Constitution.

Step	A Candidacy Proceeds	A Candidacy Halts
1. Recommendation made by Congress Member to the President	President Nominates to Senate Judiciary Committee	President Declines Nomination
2. Senate Judiciary Committee interviews Candidate	Sends candidate to Senate for confirmation	Returns candidate to President, who may re-nominate to Committee
3. Senate votes on candidate confirmation	Candidate becomes federal judge	Candidate does not receive judgeship

Magistrate judges

The district courts are also served by magistrate judges. Congress created the judicial office of federal magistrate in 1968. In 1990, the position title was changed to magistrate judge. The chief judge of each district appoints one or more magistrate judges, who discharge many of the ancillary duties of district judges so judges can handle more trials. There are both full-time and part-time magistrate judge positions, and these positions are assigned to the district courts according to caseload criteria (subject to funding by Congress). A full-time magistrate judge serves a term of eight years; a part-time magistrate judge's term of office is four years.

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit
• Central District of Illinois
• Southern District of Illinois
• Northern District of Indiana
• Southern District of Indiana
• Eastern District of Wisconsin
• Western District of Wisconsin
• Illinois judicial news

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
• United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Official Website
• Opinions of the Northern District of Illinois
• Judges of the Northern District of Illinois
• Chicago Tribune, "Lawsuits say school closings unfair, discriminate against blacks," May 16, 2013