Pamela Pepper


Pamela Pepper is the Chief United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin and former Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge of the same court.

Biography

Pepper received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1986 from Northwestern University. She received a Juris Doctor in 1989 from Cornell Law School. She began her legal career as a law clerk to Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from 1989 to 1990. She served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois from 1990 to 1994 and in the Eastern District of Wisconsin from 1994 to 1997. From 1997 to 2005, she worked in private practice as a criminal defense attorney, where she handled both trials and appeals in State and Federal courts. Starting in 2005 until 2009, Pepper concurrently served as a bankruptcy judge in the Eastern District of Wisconsin and Southern District of Illinois. From 2009 to 2014 she served solely in the Eastern District of Wisconsin and from 2010 to 2014 she served as Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge.

Federal judicial service

On May 1, 2014, President Obama nominated Pepper to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, to the seat vacated by Judge Charles N. Clevert Jr., who took senior status on October 31, 2012. She received a hearing on her nomination on Tuesday, June 24, 2014. On July 17, 2014 her nomination was reported out of committee by voice vote. On November 18, 2014 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed for cloture on her nomination. On Wednesday November 19, 2014 cloture was invoked by a vote of 58–39. On Thursday, November 20, 2014 the Senate voted 95–0 in favor of final confirmation. She received her judicial commission on December 8, 2014. She became Chief Judge on November 1, 2019.