Rebecca Pallmeyer | |
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![]() Pallmeyer in 2020 | |
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois | |
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 [1] September 13,1954 Tokyo,Japan |
Education | Valparaiso University (BA) University of Chicago (JD) |
Rebecca Ruth Pallmeyer [2] (born September 13,1954) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Pallmeyer was born September 13,1954,in Tokyo,Japan. [3] 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. [1] She was a United States magistrate judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois from 1991 to 1998.
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,via a voice vote,and received her commission on October 22,1998. [4]
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. [5] [6] She served as the chief judge from July 1,2019 to August 1,2024,when she assumed senior status. [4]
Pallmeyer was the presiding judge over Stiegler v. Bonkowski. [7] [8] [9] The case stemmed from a retaliatory arrest Illinois police officer Joseph Bonkowski initiated on June 13,2019,where he arrested Sue Steigler,a woman who was recording Bonkowski within her neighborhood. Bonkowski attempted to charge Stiegler with obstructing a police officer and resisting arrest,both charges were dismissed. The village of Justice,Illinois later settled with Stiegler for $125,000. [9]