United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois

The United States District Court for the Southern 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, S.D. Ill.) is a Federal district 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...

covering approximately the southern half of the state of Illinois.

Appeals from the Southern 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...

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, so the district court exercised the jurisdiction of both a district court

United States district court

and a circuit court

United States circuit court

The United States circuit courts were the original intermediate level courts of the United States federal court system. They were established by the Judiciary Act of 1789. They had trial court jurisdiction over civil suits of diversity jurisdiction and major federal crimes. They also had appellate...

, with appeals and writs of error taken directly to the United States Supreme Court. In 1837, Congress placed the District of Illinois within the newly created Seventh Circuit

United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

, and the district court resumed its normal jurisdiction, 5 Stat. 176.

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

United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois is the trial-level court with jurisdiction over the northern counties of Illinois....

and the Southern 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.

Jurisdiction

The jurisdiction of the Southern District of Illinois comprises the following counties: Alexander

Alexander County, Illinois

Alexander County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 8,238, which is a decrease of 14.1% from 9,590 in 2000. Its county seat is Cairo. Alexander County is part of the Cape Girardeau–Jackson, MO-IL Metropolitan Statistical...

, Bond

Bond County, Illinois

Bond County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is part of the St. Louis Metro Area. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 17,768, which is an increase of 0.8% from 17,633 in 2000. Its county seat is Greenville, Illinois....

, Calhoun

Calhoun County, Illinois

Calhoun County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 5,089, which is an increase of 0.1% from 5,084 in 2000. Its county seat is Hardin. It is part of the Metro-East portion of the St...

, Clark, Clay

Clay County, Illinois

Clay County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. In 1950, the U.S. Census Bureau placed the mean center of U.S. population in Clay County. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 13,815, which is a decrease of 5.1% from 14,560 in 2000...

, Clinton

Clinton County, Illinois

-Demographics: As of the census of 2000, there were 35,535 people, 12,754 households, and 9,221 families residing in the county. The population density was 75 people per square mile . There were 13,805 housing units at an average density of 29 per square mile...

, Crawford, Cumberland, Edwards

Edwards County, Illinois

Edwards County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 6,721, which is a decrease of 3.6% from 6,971 in 2000...

, Effingham, Fayette

Fayette County, Illinois

Fayette County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 22,140, which is an increase of 1.6% from 21,802 in 2000. Its county seat is Vandalia...

, Franklin

Franklin County, Illinois

Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 39,561, which is an increase of 1.4% from 39,018 in 2000. Its county seat is Benton.-History:...

, Gallatin

Gallatin County, Illinois

Gallatin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 5,589, which is a decrease of 13.3% from 6,445 in 2000...

, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson

Jackson County, Illinois

Jackson County, incorporated January 10, 1816, is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 60,218, which is an increase of 1.0% from 59,612 in 2000...

, Jasper

Jasper County, Illinois

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, Jefferson

Jefferson County, Illinois

Jefferson County is a county located in the southern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 38,827, which is a decrease of 3.0% from 40,045 in 2000...

, Jersey

Jersey County, Illinois

Jersey County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. Jersey County is part of the St. Louis Metropolitan Area. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 22,985, which is an increase of 6.1% from 21,668 in 2000...

, Johnson, Lawrence, Madison

Madison County, Illinois

Madison County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. Madison County is part of the Metro-East region of the St. Louis Metro Area. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 269,282, which is an increase of 4.0% from 258,941 in 2000. The county seat is Edwardsville, home to...

, Marion, Massac, Monroe

Monroe County, Illinois

Monroe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 32,957, which is an increase of 19.3% from 27,619 in 2000. Its county seat is Waterloo...

, Perry, Pope, Pulaski, Randolph

Randolph County, Illinois

Randolph County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 33,476, which is a decrease of 1.2% from 33,893 in 2000. Its county seat is Chester....

, Richland, Saline

Saline County, Illinois

Saline County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 24,913, which is a decrease of 6.8% from 26,733 in 2000. Its county seat is Harrisburg. Saline County is home to the smallest post office and the largest KFC in the United States....

, St. Clair, Union, Wabash

Wabash County, Illinois

Wabash County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 11,947, which is a decrease of 7.7% from 12,937 in 2000...

, Washington

Washington County, Illinois

Washington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 14,716, which is a decrease of 2.9% from 15,148 in 2000. Its county seat is Nashville.-Geography:...

, Wayne, White

White County, Illinois

White County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 14,665, which is a decrease of 4.6% from 15,371 in 2000...

, and Williamson

Williamson County, Illinois

-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*92.7% White*3.8% Black*0.4% Native American*0.8% Asian*0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*1.7% Two or more races*0.4% Other races*2.0% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...

. The district was created in 1979. It has jurisdiction over the eastern suburbs of St. Louis

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

and the city of Carbondale

Carbondale, Illinois

Carbondale is a city in Jackson County, in the state of Illinois, within the Southern Illinois region. It is located at the junction of Illinois Route 13 and U.S. Route 51, southeast of St. Louis, Missouri, on the northern edge of the Shawnee National Forest...

.

The United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Illinois represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court.

Current Judges

The four magistrate judge

United States magistrate judge

In the United States federal courts, magistrate judges are appointed to assist United States district court judges in the performance of their duties...

s are Philip M. Frazier, Clifford J. Proud, Donald G. Wilkerson, and Stephen C. Williams.

Former Judges

Judge	Appointed by	Began active service	Ended active service	Ended senior status	End reason
Samuel Hubbel Treat, Jr. Samuel Hubbel Treat, Jr. Samuel Hubbel Treat, Jr. was a United States federal judge.Born in Plainfield, New York, Treat read law to enter the bar in 1834. He was in private practice in Springfield, Illinois from 1834 to 1839. He was a judge on the Circuit Court of Illinois from 1839 to 1841, becoming a Justice of the...	Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce was the 14th President of the United States and is the only President from New Hampshire. Pierce was a Democrat and a "doughface" who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. Pierce took part in the Mexican-American War and became a brigadier general in the Army...			–	death
William Joshua Allen	Grover Cleveland Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...			–	death
J. Otis Humphrey J. Otis Humphrey J. Otis Humphrey was a United States federal judge.Born in Morgan County, Illinois, Humphrey attended Shurtleff College, and read law to enter the bar in 1880. He was a legal clerk for the Illinois State Office of Railroad and Warehouse Commissioners from 1880 to 1883. He was in private practice...	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...

}||||–||death
|-
| Louis FitzHenry

Louis FitzHenry

Louis FitzHenry was a United States federal judge.Born in Bloomington, Illinois, FitzHenry received an LL.B. from Illinois Wesleyan University Law School in 1897. He was in private practice in Bloomington, Illinois from 1897 to 1907. He was a City attorney of Bloomington, Illinois from 1907 to...

||Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

||||||–||reappointment
|-
| Charles Guy Briggle

Charles Guy Briggle

Charles Guy Briggle was a United States federal judge.Born in Rushville, Illinois, Briggle received a LL.B from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1904...

||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...

||||||||death
|-
| J. Leroy Adair

J. Leroy Adair

Jackson Leroy Adair was a U.S. Representative from Illinois and a federal judge.Born in Clayton, Illinois, Adair attended public and high schools, and Illinois College at Jacksonville....

||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
|-
| James Earl Major||Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

||||||–||reappointment
|-
| William George Juergens

William George Juergens

William George Juergens was a United States federal judge.Born in Steeleville, Illinois, Juergens received an A.B. from Carthage College in 1925 and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1928. He was in private practice in Chester, Illinois from 1928 to 1938. He was a City attorney...

||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
|-
| Frederick Olen Mercer

Frederick Olen Mercer

Frederick Olen Mercer was a United States federal judge.Born in Vermont, Illinois, Mercer received an LL.B. from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1924. He was an Assistant state's attorney of Fulton County, Illinois from 1924 to 1926. He was a County judge, Fulton County, Illinois from...

||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
|-
| Omer Poos

Omer Poos

Omer Poos was a United States federal judge.Born in Mount Olive, Illinois, Poos received an LL.B. from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1924. He was in private practice in Mount Olive from 1924 to 1939, and then in Hillsboro, Illinois until 1958.On August 16, 1958, Poos was nominated by...

||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
|-
| Robert Dale Morgan

Robert Dale Morgan

Robert Dale Morgan was mayor of Peoria, Illinois in the 1950s and a United States federal judge in Illinois from 1967 to 2002....

||Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...

||||||–||assignment to another court
|-
| James L. Foreman

James L. Foreman

James L. Foreman is a former United States federal judge.Born in Metropolis, Illinois, Foreman was in the United States Navy from 1945 to 1946. He received a B.S. from the University of Illinois in 1950, and a J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1952. From 1952 to 1972, he was...

||Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

||||||||retirement
|-
| Harlington Wood Jr.

Harlington Wood Jr.

Harlington Wood, Jr. was an American lawyer, jurist, political figure and an amateur actor. He served as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1976 until his death in 2008. He was considered one of the country's leading legal historians on the life and legacy...

||Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

||||||–||reappointment
|-
| James Waldo Ackerman

James Waldo Ackerman

James Waldo Ackerman was a United States federal judge in Illinois.Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Ackerman received a B.S. from Marquette University in 1947 and a J.D. from Marquette University Law School in 1949. He served in the United States Navy, from 1944 to 1946 and again from 1952 to 1954....

||Gerald Ford

Gerald Ford

Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...

||||||–||assignment to another court
|-
| William Louis Beatty

William Louis Beatty

William Louis Beatty was a United States federal judge.Born in Mendota, Illinois, Beatty was in the United States Army during World War II, from 1943 to 1946, and then received an LL.B. from the Saint Louis University School of Law in 1950...

||Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

||||||||death
|-
| Paul E. Riley

Paul E. Riley

Paul E. Riley was a United States federal judge.Born in Alton, Illinois, Riley received a B.S. from Saint Louis University in 1964 and a J.D. from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1967. He was a Hearing examiner, Illinois Commerce Commission from 1968 to 1969. He was in private practice in...

||Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

||||||–||retirement
|-
|}

History

Jurisdiction

Current Judges

Former Judges

External links

See also