Misplaced Pages

Rebecca Pallmeyer
Pallmeyer in 2020
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Incumbent
Assumed office August 1, 2024
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
In office July 1, 2019 – August 1, 2024
Preceded by	Rubén Castillo
Succeeded by	Virginia Mary Kendall
Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
In office October 22, 1998 – August 1, 2024
Appointed by	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	William Thomas Hart
Succeeded by	Georgia N. Alexakis
Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
In office 1991–1998
Personal details
Born	Rebecca Ruth Pallmeyer (1954-09-13) September 13, 1954 (age 70) Tokyo, Japan
Education	Valparaiso University (BA) University of Chicago (JD)

Rebecca Ruth Pallmeyer (born September 13, 1954) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Education and career

Pallmeyer was born September 13, 1954, in Tokyo, Japan. Pallmeyer received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Valparaiso University in 1976 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School in 1979. She was a law clerk to Rosalie E. Wahl, Minnesota Supreme Court Justice, from 1979 to 1980. She was in private practice in Chicago, Illinois, from 1980 to 1985 at the law firm of Hopkins & Sutter. She was an administrative law judge on the Illinois Human Rights Commission from 1985 to 1991. She was a United States magistrate judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois from 1991 to 1998.

Federal judicial service

Pallmeyer was nominated by President Bill Clinton on July 31, 1997, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois vacated by Judge William Thomas Hart. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 21, 1998, and received her commission on October 22, 1998.

On July 1, 2019, she became chief judge of the Northern District of Illinois. She is the first female to do so, in the nearly 200 years of the court's existence. She served as the chief judge from July 1, 2019 to August 1, 2024, when she assumed senior status.

See also

• List of first women lawyers and judges in Illinois

References

1. ^ Dorning, Mike (May 20, 1997). "Senators Offer Picks for Federal Judges: Moseley-Braun Adviser Among 5 Candidates". Chicago Tribune – via ProQuest.
2. "Pallmeyer; Rebecca R." Sullivan's Judicial Profiles. Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
3. "Confirmation hearings on federal appointments: Hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary". United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. 1997. p. 692.
4. ^ Rebecca R. Pallmeyer at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
5. Sobol, Rosemary (March 15, 2019). "Rebecca Pallmeyer to be first female chief judge in long history of Chicago's federal court". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
6. Greene, Morgan (July 5, 2019). "Chicago federal court gets first female chief judge". The Eagle. Retrieved July 6, 2019.

External links

• Rebecca R. Pallmeyer at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Rebecca R. Pallmeyer at Ballotpedia

• 1954 births
• Living people
• 20th-century American judges
• 20th-century American women judges
• 21st-century American judges
• 21st-century American women judges
• Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
• Lawyers from Tokyo
• United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton
• United States magistrate judges
• Valparaiso University alumni