Rebecca R. Pallmeyer

Rebecca Ruth Pallmeyer ^[2] (born September 13, 1954) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Rebecca Pallmeyer
Pallmeyer in 2020
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Incumbent
Assumed office August 1, 2024
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
In office July 1, 2019 – August 1, 2024
Preceded by	Rubén Castillo
Succeeded by	Virginia Mary Kendall
Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
In office October 22, 1998 – August 1, 2024
Appointed by	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	William Thomas Hart
Succeeded by	Georgia N. Alexakis
Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
In office 1991–1998
Personal details
Born	Rebecca Ruth Pallmeyer[1] (1954-09-13) September 13, 1954 (age 70) Tokyo, Japan
Education	Valparaiso University (BA) University of Chicago (JD)

Education and career

Pallmeyer was born September 13, 1954, in Tokyo, Japan.^[3] Pallmeyer received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Valparaiso University in 1976 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School in 1979. She was a law clerk to Rosalie E. Wahl, Minnesota Supreme Court Justice, from 1979 to 1980. She was in private practice in Chicago, Illinois, from 1980 to 1985 at the law firm of Hopkins & Sutter. She was an administrative law judge on the Illinois Human Rights Commission from 1985 to 1991.^[1] She was a United States magistrate judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois from 1991 to 1998.

Federal judicial service

Pallmeyer was nominated by President Bill Clinton on July 31, 1997, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois vacated by Judge William Thomas Hart. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 21, 1998, via a voice vote, and received her commission on October 22, 1998.^[4]

On July 1, 2019, she became chief judge of the Northern District of Illinois. She is the first female to do so, in the nearly 200 years of the court's existence.^[5][6] She served as the chief judge from July 1, 2019 to August 1, 2024, when she assumed senior status.^[4]

Pallmeyer was the presiding judge over Stiegler v. Bonkowski.^[7][8][9] The case stemmed from a retaliatory arrest Illinois police officer Joseph Bonkowski initiated on June 13, 2019, where he arrested Sue Steigler, a woman who was recording Bonkowski within her neighborhood. Bonkowski attempted to charge Stiegler with obstructing a police officer and resisting arrest, both charges were dismissed. The village of Justice, Illinois later settled with Stiegler for $125,000.^[9]

See also

• List of first women lawyers and judges in Illinois