Joe Billy McDade (born 1937) is a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

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 Central District of Illinois The United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois (in case citations, C.D. Ill.) serves the residents of forty-six counties, which are divided into four divisions. The counties are: Adams, Brown, Bureau, Cass, Champaign, C ...

, with chambers in

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...

. He is the first judge of the newly created seat, and was appointed by President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

Education and career

McDade was born in

Bellville, Texas Bellville is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Austin County. The city's population was 4,206 at the 2020 census. Bellville is on the eastern edge of the Texas-German belt, and Bellville is known for its German culture and descend ...

. He received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in economics, with honors, in 1959, and a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

in psychology in 1960, both from

Bradley University Bradley University is a private university in Peoria, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1897, Bradley University enrolls 5,200 students who are pursuing degrees in more than 100 undergraduate programs and more than 30 graduate programs in fiv ...

. While at Bradley, McDade was part of the All- NIT Basketball Team in 1957 and 1959 as a member of the Bradley University NIT Championship team. He earned a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (branded as Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparati ...

in 1963. McDade was a staff attorney in the

United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division The United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division is a division of the U.S. Department of Justice that enforces U.S. antitrust law. It has exclusive jurisdiction over federal criminal antitrust prosecutions, and it shares jurisdict ...

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 ...

from 1963 to 1965. He was an executive trainee at the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of

in 1965. He was executive director of the Greater Peoria Legal Aid Society from 1965 to 1968. He was in private practice in Peoria from 1968 to 1982: first as a partner in Hafele & McDade, P.C., until 1977, then in solo practice until his election as a state judge in 1982.

Judicial service

State judicial service

He was an associate circuit judge of the Tenth Judicial Circuit of Illinois from 1982 to 1988. In the 1988 election, McDade ran to fill the vacancy left by Stephen J. Covey. McDade defeated Democratic candidate Frank E. Hoffman with 79,887 votes to Hoffman's 54,508 votes, and winning four of the five counties in the Tenth Judicial Circuit. He then served as a circuit judge of the Tenth Judicial Circuit of Illinois from 1988 to 1991. After McDade's confirmation to the federal bench, the

Illinois Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the judiciary of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the fiv ...

appointed retired Judge James M. Bumgarner of Hennepin as circuit judge effective March 19, 1992, to December 7, 1992.

Federal judicial service

McDade was nominated by President

on September 11, 1991, to the

, to a new "temporary" seat created by the Federal Judgeship Act of 1990, part of the Judicial Improvements Act of 1990 (); 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 November 21, 1991, and received his commission on November 25, 1991. He served as chief judge from 1998 to 2004. McDade assumed senior status on February 28, 2010. He has been a member of the

Illinois State Bar Association The Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) is among the largest voluntary state bar associations in the United States. Approximately 28,000 lawyers are members of the ISBA. Unlike some state bar associations, in which membership is mandatory, ISB ...

General Assembly.

Personal life

McDade's first wife, Mary, is also a judge: she has been a justice of the

Illinois Appellate Court The Illinois Appellate Court is the court of first appeal for civil and criminal cases rising in the Illinois circuit courts. In Illinois, litigants generally have a right to first appeal from final decisions or judgements of the circuit court ...

since December 2000. They have four children.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McDade, Joe Billy 1937 births Living people 21st-century American judges People from Bellville, Texas African-American judges American men's basketball players Basketball players from Texas Bradley Braves men's basketball players Cincinnati Royals draft picks Illinois state court judges Judges of the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois Lawyers from Peoria, Illinois United States Department of Justice lawyers University of Michigan Law School alumni United States district court judges appointed by George H. W. Bush 20th-century American sportsmen