Amy Joan St. Eve (born November 20, 1965) is a

United States circuit judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (in case citations, 7th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the courts in the following districts: * Central District of Illinois * Northern District of ...

. She previously served as a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (in case citations, N.D. Ill.) is the federal trial-level court with jurisdiction over the northern counties of Illinois. Appeals from the Northern District of Illinois ar ...

Early life and education

Raised in Belleville, Illinois, St. Eve received her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

in 1987. Three years later, in 1990, she earned her Juris Doctor from Cornell Law School.

Legal career

Following law school graduation, St. Eve was in private practice at

Davis Polk & Wardwell Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, better known as Davis Polk is a white-shoe, international law firm headquartered in New York City with 980 attorneys worldwide and offices in Washington, D.C., Northern California, London, Paris, Madrid, Hong Kong, Be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

from 1990 to 1994. She was an associate independent counsel at the

Whitewater Whitewater forms in a rapid context, in particular, when a river's gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that froths, making the water appear opaque and ...

Independent Counsel's Office in

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

from 1994 to 1996, where she successfully prosecuted former Arkansas Governor

Jim Guy Tucker James Guy Tucker Jr. (born June 13, 1943) is an American politician and attorney from Arkansas. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 43rd governor of Arkansas, the 15th lieutenant governor, state attorney general, and U.S. repre ...

and Whitewater partners

Jim Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim ...

and Susan McDougal for fraud. From 1996 until 2001, St. Eve served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the

Northern District of Illinois The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (in case citations, N.D. Ill.) is the federal trial-level court with jurisdiction over the northern counties of Illinois. Appeals from the Northern District of Illinois a ...

. She was a Senior Counsel for Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Illinois, from 2001 until 2002, when she became a federal judge.

Federal judicial career

District court service

On March 21, 2002, St. Eve was nominated by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

to a seat on the

vacated by George W. Lindberg, who assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

. She was recommended for the post by United States Senator Peter Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald told the ''Chicago Tribune'' in 2003 that before St. Eve applied for the judgeship, "I didn't know Amy or know anyone who knew Amy. I was looking for the best qualified person." She was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on August 1, 2002, and received her commission the following day. St. Eve was reportedly considered by the Trump administration for the position of Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation after the dismissal of

James Comey James Brien Comey Jr. (; born December 14, 1960) is an American lawyer who was the seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2013 until his dismissal in May 2017. Comey was a registered Republican for most of his adul ...

, but ultimately did not receive the job as it went to Christopher A. Wray. Her service on the district court terminated on May 23, 2018, upon elevation to the

Court of appeals service

On February 12, 2018, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

announced his intent to nominate St. Eve to an undetermined seat on the

. On February 15, 2018, her nomination was sent to the Senate. President Trump nominated St. Eve to the seat on the

vacated by Judge

Ann Claire Williams Ann Claire Williams (born August 16, 1949) is a retired United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and a former United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern Di ...

, who assumed

on June 5, 2017. On March 21, 2018, a hearing on her nomination was held before the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...

. On April 19, 2018, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 21–0 vote. On May 14, 2018, her nomination was confirmed by a 91–0 vote. She received her judicial commission on May 23, 2018.

References

External links

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:St. Eve, Amy 1965 births Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges Assistant United States Attorneys Cornell Law School alumni Cornell University alumni Davis Polk & Wardwell lawyers Illinois lawyers Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law faculty People from Belleville, Illinois People from Glencoe, Illinois United States Department of Justice lawyers United States district court judges appointed by George W. Bush United States court of appeals judges appointed by Donald Trump Women legal scholars 20th-century American women lawyers 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American women judges