Frederick Olen Mercer (March 11, 1901 – April 3, 1966) was 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. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.

Education and career

Born in

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

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 ...

, Mercer 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 Illinois College of Law The University of Illinois College of Law at Urbana-Champaign is the law school of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a public land-grant research university in Champaign and Urbana, Illinois. It was established in 1897 and offers th ...

in 1924. He was an assistant state's attorney of Fulton County, Illinois from 1924 to 1926. He was a county judge of Fulton County from 1926 to 1934. He was in private practice in Lewistown, Illinois from 1934 to 1940. He was in private practice in Canton, Illinois from 1940 to 1956.

Federal judicial service

Mercer was nominated by 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 May 17, 1956, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois vacated by Judge J. Leroy Adair. 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 June 13, 1956, and received his commission on June 19, 1956. He served as Chief Judge from 1958 to 1966. Mercer served in that capacity until his death on April 3, 1966.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mercer, Frederick Olen 1901 births 1966 deaths Illinois state court judges Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois United States district court judges appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower 20th-century American lawyers People from Vermont, Illinois University of Illinois College of Law alumni