Pamela Pepper

Pamela Pepper (born 1964) is an American lawyer serving as the chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin and former chief United States bankruptcy judge of the same court.

Pamela Pepper
Pepper in 2020
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
Assumed office
November 1, 2019
Preceded byWilliam C. Griesbach
Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
Assumed office
December 8, 2014
Appointed byBarack Obama
Preceded byCharles N. Clevert Jr.
Chief Bankruptcy Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
In office
2010–2014
Bankruptcy Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
In office
2005–2014
Bankruptcy Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
In office
2005–2009
Personal details
Born1964 (age 58–59)
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Alma materNorthwestern University (BS)
Cornell University (JD)

Education

A 1982 graduate of Leland High School, Pepper was among the first racially integrated group of students to matriculate through the city’s public schools from K–12. She is one of the graduates featured in The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools, a documentary film produced by Sam Pollard and fellow classmate Douglas A. Blackmon which first aired on American Experience on September 11, 2023.[1][2]

Pepper received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1986 from Northwestern University. She received a Juris Doctor in 1989 from Cornell Law School.[3][4]

Career

She began her legal career as a law clerk for Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from 1989 to 1990. She served as an assistant United States attorney in the Northern District of Illinois from 1990 to 1994 and in the Eastern District of Wisconsin from 1994 to 1997. From 1997 to 2005, she worked in private practice as a criminal defense attorney, where she handled both trials and appeals in state and federal courts. From 2005 to 2009, Pepper concurrently served as a bankruptcy judge in the Eastern District of Wisconsin and Southern District of Illinois. From 2009 to 2014 she served solely in the Eastern District of Wisconsin and from 2010 to 2014 she served as chief United States bankruptcy judge.[4][3]

Federal judicial service

In 2014, Pepper was one of three finalists recommended to President Barack Obama by the bipartisan Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission to fill a vacancy on the federal District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. The other finalists were attorney Beth Kushner and state-court judge William Pocan.[5]

On May 1, 2014, Obama nominated Pepper to the seat, which was vacated by Judge Charles N. Clevert Jr., who assumed senior status on October 31, 2012.[6] She received a hearing on her nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 24, 2014.[7] On July 17, 2014, her nomination was reported out of committee by a voice vote.[8] On November 18, 2014, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed a cloture motion on her nomination. On November 19, 2014, the United States Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 58–39 vote.[9] On November 20, 2014, her nomination was confirmed by a 95–0 vote.[10] She received her commission on December 8, 2014.[4] She became chief judge on November 1, 2019.[11]

References
  1. "Not Just a Normal School Yearbook," PBS.org (American Experience), Monday, September 11, 2023. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  2. Vognar, Chris. "Two Documentaries on School Integration Offer New Views of an Old Problem," The New York Times, Saturday, September 2, 2023. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  3. "President Obama Nominates Judge Pamela Pepper to Serve on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin". whitehouse.gov. 1 May 2014 – via National Archives.
  4. Pamela Pepper at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  5. Gayle Worland, Three nominees for Eastern District Court judgeship named, Wisconsin State Journal (February 15, 2014).
  6. "Presidential Nomination Sent to the Senate". whitehouse.gov. 1 May 2014 – via National Archives.
  7. "United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary". www.judiciary.senate.gov. 24 June 2014.
  8. ""Results of Executive Business Meeting – July 17, 2014" United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary" (PDF).
  9. "On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Nomination of Pamela Pepper, of Wisconsin, to be U.S. District Judge)". United States Senate. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  10. "On the Nomination (Confirmation Pamela Pepper, of Wisconsin, to be U.S. District Judge)". United States Senate. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  11. "Chief Judge Press Release" (Press release). Milwaukee, Wisconsin. November 1, 2019. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
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