Sara Lioi | |
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![]() Lioi in 2008 | |
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio | |
Assumed office June 5, 2023 | |
Preceded by | Patricia Anne Gaughan |
Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court | |
Assumed office May 19,2023 | |
Appointed by | John Roberts |
Preceded by | Rudolph Contreras |
Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio | |
Assumed office March 14,2007 | |
Appointed by | George W. Bush |
Preceded by | Lesley B. Wells |
Personal details | |
Born | Canton,Ohio,U.S. | December 17,1960
Education | Bowling Green State University (BA) Ohio State University (JD) |
Sara Elizabeth Lioi (born December 17,1960) [1] is the chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio,while also serving as a judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Born in Canton,Ohio,Lioi graduated from Bowling Green State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 and later from Ohio State University College of Law with a Juris Doctor in 1987.
Following law school graduation,Lioi joined the law firm of Day,Ketterer,Raley,Wright &Rybolt,Ltd. in the fall of 1987 and was promoted to partner in that firm in December 1993. In November 1997,during his second term as governor,George Voinovich appointed Lioi as a judge in the Stark County Court of Common Pleas,Central Division. She was elected to a four-year term in November 1998 and then re-elected for a six-year term in November 2002. [2]
On the recommendation of Senators George Voinovich and Mike DeWine, [2] Lioi was nominated to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio by President George W. Bush on January 9,2007,to a seat vacated by Lesley B. Wells as Wells took senior status. Lioi was confirmed by the Senate on March 8,2007 and received her commission on March 14,2007. [3] She was sworn in as chief judge on June 5,2023. [4] [5]
Lioi oversaw the prosecution of Jimmy Dimora and others in the Cuyahoga County corruption case,sentencing Dimora to 28 years. [6] The case was affirmed on appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit,and the Supreme Court declined to hear Dimora's further appeal. [7]