Elmer Jacob Schnackenberg (August 22, 1889 – September 15, 1968) was a United States circuit judge 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. United States federal court, federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, courts in the following United Stat ...

Education and legal career

Born in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, Schnackenberg received a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It employs more than 180 full-time and part-time facul ...

in 1912. He was in private practice in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

from 1912 to 1945. He was general attorney for the South Park Commissioners in Chicago from 1925 to 1930. He was a Judge on the Circuit Court of

Cook County Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40 percent of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. ...

, Illinois from 1945 to 1954.

Illinois House of Representatives

He was a member of the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 representativ ...

from 1913 to 1915 and again from 1923 to 1945. In 1912, Schnackenberg was elected to the

as one of three representatives from the 13th district alongside Republican incumbent Benton Kleeman and

Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

candidate

Seymour Stedman Seymour "Stedy" Stedman (July 4, 1871 – July 9, 1948) was an American from Chicago who rose from shepherd and janitor to become a prominent civil liberties lawyer and a leader of the Socialist Party of America. He is best remembered as the 192 ...

. He served a single term. He again ran for election to the Illinois House of Representatives again in 1922. He was successful in the election and took office in 1923. He was reelected ten times. He served as House Minority Leader in the 58th and 60th General Assemblies. He served as Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives in the 62nd and 63rd General Assemblies (1941-1945).

Federal judicial service

Schnackenberg received a

recess appointment In the United States, a recess appointment is an appointment by the President of the United States, president of a Officer of the United States, federal official when the United States Senate, U.S. Senate is in Recess (motion), recess. Under the ...

from President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

on November 17, 1953, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Otto Kerner Sr. He was formally nominated to the same seat by President Eisenhower on January 11, 1954. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on February 9, 1954, and received his commission the same day. His service was terminated on September 15, 1968, due to his death.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schnackenberg, Elmer Jacob 1889 births 1968 deaths Lawyers from Chicago Politicians from Indianapolis University of Chicago Law School alumni Members of the Illinois House of Representatives Speakers of the Illinois House of Representatives Illinois state court judges Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit United States court of appeals judges appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower Illinois Progressives (1912) 20th-century members of the Illinois General Assembly