| United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois (S.D. Ill.) |
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| Map | |
Map of the changing boundaries of the Districts of Illinois |
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| Location | East St. Louis, Illinois |
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| Appeals to | Seventh Circuit |
| Established | February 13, 1855 |
| Judges assigned | 4 |
| Chief judge | David R. Herndon |
| Official site | |
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois (in case citations, S.D. Ill.) is a Federal district court 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 (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit).
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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, 3 Stat. 502.[1][2] 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 and a circuit court, 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, and the district court resumed its normal jurisdiction, 5 Stat. 176.[2]
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 and the Southern Districts.[2] The boundaries of the District and the seats of the courts were set forth in the statute:
| “ | The counties of Hancock, McDonough, Peoria, Woodford, Livingston, and Iroquois, and all the counties in the said State north of them, shall compose one district, to be called the northern district of Illinois, and courts shall be held for the said district at the city of Chicago; and the residue of the counties of the said State shall compose another district, to be called the southern district of Illinois, and courts shall be held for the same at the city of Springfield. | ” |
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 33 Stat. 992,[2] 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, 92 Stat. 883,[2] formed primarily from parts of the Southern District, and returning some counties to the Northern District.
The jurisdiction of the Southern District of Illinois 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. It has jurisdiction over the eastern suburbs of St. Louis and the city of Carbondale.
The United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Illinois represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court.
| # | Title | Judge | Duty station | Born | Term of service | Appointed by | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active | Chief | Senior | ||||||
| 19 | Chief Judge | David R. Herndon | East St. Louis, IL | 1953 | 1998–present | 2007–present | — | Clinton |
| 16 | District Judge | John Phil Gilbert | Benton, IL | 1949 | 1992–present | 1993–2000 | — | George H. W. Bush |
| 18 | District Judge | G. Patrick Murphy | East St. Louis, IL | 1948 | 1998–present | 2000–2007 | — | Clinton |
| 20 | District Judge | Michael Joseph Reagan | East St. Louis, IL | 1954 | 2000–present | – | — | Clinton |
| 15 | Senior District Judge | William Donald Stiehl | East St. Louis, IL | 1925 | 1972–1992 | 1992-1993 | 1996-present | Reagan |
The four magistrate judges are Philip M. Frazier, Clifford J. Proud, Donald G. Wilkerson, and Stephen C. Williams.
| Judge | Appointed by | Began active service |
Ended active service |
Ended senior status |
End reason |
| Samuel Hubbel Treat, Jr. | Franklin Pierce | March 3, 1855 | March 27, 1887 | – | death |
| William Joshua Allen | Grover Cleveland | April 18, 1887[3] | January 26, 1901 | – | death |
| J. Otis Humphrey | William McKinley | March 8, 1901 | June 14, 1918 | – | death |
| Louis FitzHenry | Woodrow Wilson | July 6, 1918 | October 3, 1933 | – | reappointment |
| Charles Guy Briggle | Herbert Hoover | January 25, 1932 | August 1, 1958 | June 6, 1972 | death |
| J. Leroy Adair | Franklin D. Roosevelt | April 27, 1937 | January 19, 1956 | – | death |
| James Earl Major | Franklin D. Roosevelt | June 12, 1933[4] | April 5, 1937 | – | reappointment |
| William George Juergens | Dwight D. Eisenhower | June 22, 1956 | December 7, 1988 | – | death |
| Frederick Olen Mercer | Dwight D. Eisenhower | June 19, 1956 | April 3, 1966 | – | death |
| Omer Poos | Dwight D. Eisenhower | August 21, 1958 | August 31, 1973 | August 11, 1976 | death |
| Robert Dale Morgan | Lyndon B. Johnson | June 12, 1967 | March 31, 1979 | – | assignment to another court |
| James L. Foreman | Richard Nixon | March 31, 1979 | June 2, 1992 | May 12, 2007 | retirement |
| Harlington Wood Jr. | Richard Nixon | July 18, 1973 | May 28, 1976 | – | reappointment |
| James Waldo Ackerman | Gerald Ford | July 2, 1976 | March 31, 1979 | – | assignment to another court |
| William Louis Beatty | Jimmy Carter | October 5, 1979 | November 9, 1992 | July 22, 2001 | death |
| Paul E. Riley | Bill Clinton | October 7, 1994 | December 10, 1999 | – | retirement |
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