James L. Santelle (born 1958) is an American attorney and former prosecutor who served as

United States attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

for the Eastern District of Wisconsin from 2010 to 2015.

Life and career

Born in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

, Santelle graduated from

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...

in 1980 and the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dist ...

in 1983. From 1983 to 1985, he was a law clerk to Judge

Robert W. Warren Robert Willis Warren (August 30, 1925 – August 20, 1998) was a United States district judge for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. He had previously served as attorney general of Wisconsin and represented Brown and Calumet Counties in the ...

of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. From 1985 until 2010, Santelle was employed as a federal prosecutor, holding various posts in the Eastern District of Wisconsin: he supervised the civil division from 1993 to 1999, acted as interim United States Attorney from 2001 to 2002, and served as executive assistant United States Attorney from 2002 to 2003. Between 1999 and 2001, Santelle was an administrator at the

Executive Office for United States Attorneys The Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) is the office within the Department of Justice that provides executive and administrative support for the 93 United States Attorneys located throughout the 50 states, District of Columbia, Gu ...

. During the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

, Santelle served as rule of law coordinator and as legal advisor at the United States Embassy in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

. In December 2009, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

nominated Santelle to the office of United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Santelle 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 December 24, 2009; he was formally inaugurated in August 2010. As United States Attorney, Santelle gained public attention for his personal response to the 2012 Wisconsin gurdwara shooting. Santelle retired from the Justice Department on July 31, 2015, and was succeeded by First Assistant United States Attorney Gregory Haanstad.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santelle, James 1958 births Living people Lawyers from Milwaukee Marquette University alumni University of Chicago Law School alumni Wisconsin lawyers United States Attorneys for the Eastern District of Wisconsin 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers