Sharon Johnson Coleman

Last updated
Sharon Johnson Coleman
Sharon Johnson Coleman (cropped).jpg
Coleman in 2019
Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Incumbent
Assumed office
July 13, 2010

Judge Coleman has presided over a number of high-profile cases. Among those are a ruling that enabled same sex couples to marry in February 2014 in advance of the June 2014 effective date for same sex marriages in Illinois. [6]

In 2015, Judge Coleman sentenced former state Representative Derrick Smith to five months in prison for a bribery conviction related to pocketing a bribe from a purported day care. Smith also was ordered to serve a year of supervised release and complete 360 hours of community service. [7]

During a patent infringement case revolving around electronic trading software patents in 2011, Judge Coleman granted default judgment to Chicago-based Trading Technologies International Inc. after Rosenthal Collins and Trading Technologies counter-sued each other and litigated for nearly six years. Judge Coleman also ordered sanctions against Rosenthal Collins after finding that a company witness had wiped computer disks that allegedly contained evidence relevant to the case and misrepresented his actions to the court. [8]

In March 2024, Judge Coleman ruled that a federal statute, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(5), [9] which prohibits aliens who are either illegally or unlawfully in the United States or admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa (the latter class has some exceptions listed at 18 U.S.C. 922(y)(2)) from possessing firearms was facially constitutional, but unconstitutional as applied to the defendant in United States v. Carbajal-Flores. [10] Judge Coleman previously denied the defendant's motion to dismiss on two separate occasions, but reconsidered her previous denials after the United States Supreme Court's new test for gun restrictions in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, was clarified by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atkinson v. Garland. [11] The decision was also based on United States v. Meza-Rodriguez, in which the Seventh Circuit held that the Second Amendment applies in some circumstances to unauthorized noncitizens. [12] Judge Coleman's ruling did not strike down the noncitizen-in-possession statute, but instead invalidated one provision as it was applied to the specific defendant in Carbajal-Flores. [13] However, her ruling was reported as holding that "illegal migrants can carry guns." [14] In United States v. Sing Ledezman, decided before Judge Coleman's Carbajal-Flores ruling, a Texas federal judge applied Bruen and found the same noncitizen-in-possession statute facially unconstitutional. [15] [16]

Judge Coleman previously criticized the Supreme Court's Bruen test in United States v. Griffin, stating, "This Court is disheartened by the Supreme Court's decision to rely on an analysis of laws that existed at this nation's founding to determine the constitutionality of modern gun regulations. Indeed, to interpret modern regulations pertaining to the critically important Second Amendment right to bear firearms for self-defense, the Supreme Court requires that this Court rely on a history and tradition of a nation that at the time would have regarded individuals, including Griffin and this Judge, as three-fifths of a person at best and property at worst. As demonstrated below, the Bruen test causes the government to make uncomfortable arguments to justify the constitutionality of modern gun regulations. Regrettably, this Court must acknowledge that Breun is the law." [17]

Personal

Coleman and her husband, Wheeler Coleman, live in Chicago. [18]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. March 10, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-05-19. Retrieved 2010-03-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. 1 2 3 Sharon Johnson Coleman at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges , a publication of the Federal Judicial Center .
  4. ↑ "Presidential Nominations Sent to the Senate, 2/24/10". whitehouse.gov . 24 February 2010. Archived from the original on 2017-02-16. Retrieved 2010-05-11– via National Archives.
  5. ↑ "On the Nomination (Confirmation Sharon Johnson Coleman, of Illinois, to be United States Judge)". Senate.gov. 2010-07-12. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  6. ↑ "Wedding bells in clerk's office after ruling on same sex marriage". Chicago Tribune . 21 February 2014.
  7. ↑ "Former Illinois Rep. Derrick Smith sentenced to 5 months for bribery conviction". 23 April 2015.
  8. ↑ "Rosenthal Collins Group fined $1M for misconduct in patent case with Trading Technologies". 28 February 2011.
  9. ↑ "18 U.S. Code § 922 - Unlawful acts". LII / Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 2024-03-22.
  10. ↑ "United States v. Carbajal-Flores - Case No. 20-cr-00613 - 2024 WL 1013975" (PDF). CourtListener.com . March 8, 2024.
  11. ↑ "United States v. Carbajal-Flores, 20-cr-00613 | Casetext Search + Citator". casetext.com. Retrieved 2024-03-22.
  12. ↑ "United States v. Meza-Rodriguez, No. 14-3271 (7th Cir. 2015)". Justia Law. Retrieved 2024-03-22.
  13. ↑ Doherty, Brian (March 20, 2024). "Another Judge Says Illegal Immigrants Have Second Amendment Rights". Reason .
  14. ↑ Keane, Isabel (March 20, 2024). "Illinois judge rules illegal migrants can carry guns, New York Post". nypost.com.
  15. ↑ "United States v. Sing Ledezma, EP-23-CR-823(1)-KC (W.D. Tex. 2023)". December 11, 2023.
  16. ↑ "For Immigrants, Gun Rights Debate Goes Beyond Firearms - Law360". www.law360.com. Retrieved 2024-03-22.
  17. ↑ "United States v. Griffin, 21-cr-00693 | Casetext Search + Citator". casetext.com. Retrieved 2024-03-22.
  18. ↑ "Women's Bar Association of Illinois". Archived from the original on 2010-08-09. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
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