United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois

	Southern District of Illinois
	Seventh Circuit
	;
	Active judges
	Gilbert • Murphy • Reagan
	Senior Judges
	Foreman • Stiehl
	Magistrate Judges
	Frazier • Proud • Wilkerson
	Former Judges

	Southern District of Illinois
	Seventh Circuit
	;
	Active judges
	Gilbert • Murphy • Reagan
	Senior Judges
	Foreman • Stiehl
	Magistrate Judges
	Frazier • Proud • Wilkerson
	Former Judges

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Court
Judges

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(Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.)
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Contents

1 Court
1.1 Vacancy warning level
1.2 Jurisdiction
1.2.1 Cases heard
1.2.2 Case load
1.3 Clerk's office
1.4 History
1.4.1 Court history
1.4.2 Judicial posts
1.4.3 Notable decisions
1.4.4 Federal courthouse
1.5 Major news
1.6 See also
1.7 External links
1.8 References
2 Judges

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties:

Alexander, Bond, Calhoun, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Crawford, Cumberland, Edwards, Effingham, Fayette, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jersey, Johnson, Lawrence, Madison, Marion, Massac, Monroe, Perry, Pope, Pulaski, Randolph, Richland, Saline, St. Clair, Union, Wabash, Washington, Wayne, White, and Williamson.

The district was created in 1979 as part of legislation approved by Congress. It has jurisdiction over the eastern suburbs of St. Louis and the city of Carbondale. When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals based in Downtown Chicago at the Everett M. Dirksen Federal Courthouse and Building.

Vacancy warning level

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois's vacancy warning level is currently set at green. The court currently has zero vacancies out of their four posts. There are no pending appointments for the district.

Jurisdiction

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

The geographic jurisdiction of the Southern District of Illinois consists of all the following counties in the southern part of the state of Illinois.

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

The Benton Division, covering Alexander, Clark, Clay, Crawford, Cumberland, Edwards, Effingham, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Lawrence, Massac, Perry, Pope, Pulaski, Richland, Saline, Union, Wabash, Wayne, White and Williamson Counties

The East St. Louis Division, covering Bond, Calhoun, Clinton, Fayette, Jersey, Madison, Marion, Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair and Washington Counties

The jurisdiction of the Southern District of Illinois extends over the eastern suburbs of St. Louis and the city of Carbondale.

When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals based in Downtown Chicago at the Everett M. Dirksen Federal Courthouse and Building.

Cases heard

The Southern 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.

Case load

Federal Court Case Load Statistics^*

Year	Starting case load:	Cases filed:	Total cases:	Cases terminated:	Remaining cases:	Median time(Criminal)^**:	Median time(Civil)^**:	3 Year Civil cases^#:	Vacant posts:^##	Trials/Post
2010	1202	5275	6477	1574	4903	8.2	5.8	58(1.2%)	.0	28
2009	1195	1468	2663	1458	1205	10.3	9.2	60(5.9%)	.0	26
2008	1266	1274	2540	1347	1193	9.6	9.4	82(8.2%)	.0	31
2007	1429	1407	2836	1578	1258	9.6	8.5	79(7.5%)	.0	32
2006	1515	1529	3044	1617	1427	9.2	8.4	77(6.2%)	.0	27

^*All statistics are taken from the Official Federal Courts' Website and reflect the calendar year through September. ^**Time in months from filing to completion.
^#This statistic includes cases which have been appealed in higher courts. ^##This is the total number of months that any all judicial posts had spent vacant that year.

Clerk's office

The Southern District of Illinois has two separate courthouses. The Clerk's office is open Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m, excluding Federal holidays. Please consult the chart below for more information:

Branch	Address	Telephone	Email
Benton, IL Division	301 West Main Street Benton, IL 62812	(618) 439-7760	Nancy_Rosenstengel@ilsd.uscourts.gov
East St. Louis, IL Division	750 Missouri Avenue East St. Louis, IL 62201	(618) 482-9371	Nancy_Rosenstengel@ilsd.uscourts.gov

^[1]

History

Court 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, and established a United States circuit court within the district and assigned it over to the Seventh Circuit.

Illinois 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 2 additional judicial posts were added for a total of 4 current posts.^[2]

Judicial posts

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

Year	Statute	Total Seats
March 3, 1819	3 Stat. 502	1
February 13, 1855	10 Stat. 606	1
February 20, 1931	46 Stat. 1196	2
October 2, 1978	92 Stat. 883	2
March 30, 1979	93 Stat. 6	2
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	3
November 2, 2002	116 Stat. 1758	4

^[2]

Notable cases

This page is missing notable case information.

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

Federal courthouse

Two separate courthouses serve the Southern District of Illinois.

Major news

For new stories and other related material see Illinois judicial news.

External links

References

↑ Court Clerk Information(Select the appropriate division for info and map)
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 FJC History of the Southern District of Illinois

Share this Court:

Key:
(Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.)
0%	0%-10%
10%-25%	25%-40%
More than 40%

Contents

1 Court
2 Judges
2.1 Active Judges
2.1.1 Article III judges
2.1.2 Pending appointments
2.1.3 Senior judges
2.2 Past judges
2.2.1 Former Chief judges
2.2.2 Former judges

Active judges

Article III judges

See: Article III federal judge
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois has 4 posts and 0 vacancies. The current Chief Judge is David Herndon. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Chief Judge David Herndon	1953	Sedalia, MO	Clinton	10/22/1998 - Present	2007 - Present	William Beatty	Southern Illinois U. at Edwardsville, B.A., 1974	Southern Illinois U. School of Law, J.D., 1977
Judge John Gilbert	1949	Carbondale, IL	H.W. Bush	9/24/1992 - Present	1993 - 2000	James Foreman	U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, B.S., 1971	Loyola U. Chicago School of Law, J.D., 1974
Judge Patrick G. Murphy	1948	Carbondale, IL	Clinton	4/3/1998 - Present	2000 - 2007	William Stiehl	Southern Illinois U., B.S., 1974	Southern Illinois U. School of Law, J.D., 1978
Judge Michael Joseph Reagan	1954	Albuquerque, NM	Clinton	10/13/2000 - Present		Paul Riley	Bradley U., B.S., 1976	St. Louis U., J.D., 1980

Pending appointments

There are no current pending appointments for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois has 2 judges on senior status currently. This is a list of the current senior judges on the court:

Judge	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Senior	Bachelors	Law
Senior Judge William Stiehl	Reagan	6/16/1986 - 11/30/1996	1992 - 1993	11/30/1996 - Present		Saint Louis U. School of Law, LL.B., 1949
Senior Judge James Foreman	Nixon	3/31/1979 - 6/1/1992	1979 - 1992	6/1/1992 - Present	U. of Illinois, B.S., 1950	U. of Illinois College of Law, J.D., 1952

Magistrate judges

Judge	Active	Bachelors	Law
Magistrate Judge Philip Frazier	05/08/1987 - Present
Magistrate Judge Clifford Proud	04/07/1994 - Present	St. Louis U., A.B.	St. Louis U. Law, J.D.
Magistrate Judge Donald Wilkerson	01/04/2005 - Present	Illinois State U., B.S., 1973	St. Louis U. Law, J.D., 1993

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
Omer Poos	1966 - 1972
Frederick Mercer	1958 - 1966
Charles Guy Briggle	1948 - 1958
Robert Morgan	1972 - 1979
James Foreman	1979 - 1992
William Stiehl	1992 - 1993
Patrick G. Murphy	2000 - 2007
John Gilbert	1993 - 2000

In order to qualify for the office of Chief Judge in one of the federal courts, a judge must have been in active service on the court for at least one year, be under the age of 65, and have not previously served as Chief Judge. A vacancy in the office of Chief Judge is filled by the judge highest in seniority among the group of qualified judges. The Chief Judge serves for a term of seven years or until age 70, whichever occurs first. The age restrictions are waived if no members of the court would otherwise be qualified for the position. Unlike the Chief Justice of the United States, a Chief Judge returns to active service after the expiration of his or her term and does not create a vacancy on the bench by the fact of his or her promotion. See 28 U.S.C. § 45.

These rules for Chief Judges in the federal judiciary have been in effect since October 1, 1982. The office of Chief Judge was created in 1948. Until August 6, 1959, the position was filled in each federal court by the longest-serving judge who had not elected to retire on what has since 1958 been known as senior status or declined to serve as Chief Judge. From then until 1982 it was filled by the senior such judge who had not turned 70.