United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois is the federal trial-level court with jurisdiction over the northern counties of Illinois.
Appeals from the Northern District of Illinois are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
The court is divided into two geographical divisions:
The eastern division includes Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, La Salle, Lake, and Will counties. Its sessions are held in Chicago and Wheaton.
The western division includes Boone, Carroll, De Kalb, Jo Daviess, Lee, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside, and Winnebago. Its sessions are held in Freeport and Rockford.
The United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. The current United States Attorney is John R. Lausch Jr. since November 22, 2017.
History
The United States District Court for the District of Illinois was established by a statute passed by the United States Congress on March 3, 1819,. The act established a single office for a judge to preside over the court. Initially, the court was not within any existing judicial circuit, and appeals from the court were taken directly to the United States Supreme Court. In 1837, Congress created the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, placing it in Chicago, Illinois and giving it jurisdiction over the District of Illinois,.The Northern District itself was created by a statute passed on February 13, 1855,, which subdivided the District of Illinois into the Northern 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 was created on March 3, 1905, by, 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 District,, formed primarily from parts of the Southern District, and returning some counties to the Northern District.
The Northern District of Illinois, which contains the entire Chicago metropolitan area, accounts for 1531 of the 1828 public corruption convictions in the state between 1976 and 2012, almost 84%, also making it the federal district with the most public corruption convictions in the nation between 1976 and 2012.
Cases
It is one of the busiest federal trial courts in the nation. Famous cases have included those of Al Capone and the Chicago Eight.Current judges
Vacancies and pending nominations
| Seat | Prior Judge's Duty Station | Seat last held by | Vacancy reason | Date of vacancy | Nominee | Date of nomination |
| 23 | Rockford | Frederick J. Kapala | Senior status | May 10, 2019 | Iain D. Johnston | February 12, 2020 |
| 6 | Chicago | Ruben Castillo | Retirement | September 27, 2019 | Franklin U. Valderrama | February 12, 2020 |