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The United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois (in case citations, C.D. Ill.) serves the residents of forty-six counties, which are divided into four divisions. The counties are: Adams, Brown, Bureau, Cass, Champaign, Christian, Coles, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Ford, Fulton, Greene, Hancock, Henderson, Henry, Iroquois, Kankakee, Knox, Livingston, Logan, McDonough, McLean, Macoupin, Macon, Marshall, Mason, Menard, Mercer, Montgomery, Morgan, Moultrie, Peoria, Piatt, Pike, Putnam, Rock Island, Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott, Shelby, Stark, Tazewell, Vermilion, Warren, and Woodford counties.

United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois
(C.D. Ill.)
Map indicating the changing Districts of Illinois
Location	Springfield More locations United States Courthouse (Peoria) Urbana / Champaign Rock Island Danville Quincy
Appeals to	Seventh Circuit
Established	March 31, 1979
Judges	4
Chief Judge	Sara Lynn Darrow
Officers of the court
U.S. Attorney	Gregory K. Harris
U.S. Marshal	Brendan O. Heffner
www.ilcd.uscourts.gov

The courthouses for the Central District's four divisions are in Peoria, Rock Island, Springfield, and Urbana. In 2018, all court operations for the Rock Island District were moved to the federal courthouse in Davenport, Iowa, due to uninhabitable conditions at the Rock Island courthouse.[1][2]

Appeals 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).

As of December 13, 2021^[update], the United States Attorney is Gregory K. Harris.[3]

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, 3 Stat. 502.[4][5] 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, 5 Stat. 176.[5]

On February 13, 1855, by 10 Stat. 606, the District of Illinois was subdivided into Northern and the Southern Districts.[5] An Eastern District was created on March 3, 1905 by 33 Stat. 992,[5] 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 the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois District, 92 Stat. 883.[5] The newly created Central District was formed primarily from parts of the Southern District, and returned some counties to the Northern District. Some judges from both the Eastern and Southern Districts were transferred to the Central District by operation of law.

Current judges

As of March 12, 2019^[update]:

#	Title	Judge	Duty station	Born	Term of service			Appointed by
					Active	Chief	Senior
11	Chief Judge	Sara Lynn Darrow	Davenport, IA[Note 1]	1970	2011–present	2019–present	—	Obama
9	District Judge	James E. Shadid	Peoria	1957	2011–present	2012–2019	—	Obama
10	District Judge	Sue E. Myerscough	Springfield	1951	2011–present	—	—	Obama
12	District Judge	Colin S. Bruce	Urbana	1965	2013–present	—	—	Obama
4	Senior Judge	Michael M. Mihm	Peoria	1943	1982–2009	1991–1998	2009–present	Reagan
5	Senior Judge	Richard Henry Mills	Springfield	1929	1985–1997	—	1997–present	Reagan
6	Senior Judge	Joe Billy McDade	Peoria	1937	1991–2010	1998–2004	2010–present	G.H.W. Bush

Vacancy and pending nomination

Seat	Prior judge's duty station	Seat last held by	Vacancy reason	Date of vacancy	Nominee	Date of nomination
2	Springfield, Illinois	Sue E. Myerscough	Senior status	TBD	Colleen Lawless	September 6, 2022

Former judges

#	Judge	State	Born–died	Active service	Chief Judge	Senior status	Appointed by	Reason for termination
—	Henry Seiler Wise	IL	1909–1982	—	—	1979–1982[Note 1]	L. Johnson / Operation of law	death
1	Robert Dale Morgan	IL	1912–2002	1979–1982[Note 2]	1979–1982	1982–2002	L. Johnson / Operation of law	death
2	James Waldo Ackerman	IL	1926–1984	1979–1984[Note 2]	1982–1984	—	Ford / Operation of law	death
3	Harold Baker	IL	1929–present	1979–1994[Note 3]	1984–1991	1994–2022	Carter / Operation of law	retirement
7	Michael P. McCuskey	IL	1948–present	1998–2013	2004–2012[6]	2013–2014	Clinton	retirement
8	Jeanne E. Scott	IL	1948–present	1998–2010	—	—	Clinton	resignation

Chief judges

Chief judges have administrative responsibilities with respect to their district court. Unlike the Supreme Court, where one justice is specifically nominated to be chief, the office of chief judge rotates among the district court judges. To be chief, 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 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.

When the office was created in 1948, the chief judge was 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. After August 6, 1959, judges could not become or remain chief after turning 70 years old. The current rules have been in operation since October 1, 1982.

Succession of seats

See also

• Courts of Illinois
• List of current United States district judges
• List of United States federal courthouses in Illinois

References

External links

• United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois
  • Directory of Judges
• General Services Administration pages about buildings:
  • Peoria Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse
  • Paul Findley Federal Building & U.S. Courthouse in Springfield
  • U.S. Courthouse, Urbana

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