John R. Tunheim (born September 1, 1953) is an American lawyer who serves as 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, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
of the
United States District Court for the District of Minnesota
The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota (in case citations, D. Minn.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Minnesota. Its two primary courthouses are in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Cases are al ...
.
Education and career
Tunheim was born in
Thief River Falls, Minnesota
Thief River Falls, sometimes referred to as Thief River or abbreviated as TRF, is a city in Pennington County in the northwest portion of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 8,749 at the 2020 census. Thief River Falls is the county ...
in 1953. He attended
Concordia College in
Moorhead, Minnesota
Moorhead () is a city in and county seat of Clay County, Minnesota, United States, on the banks of the Red River of the North. Located in the Red River Valley, an extremely fertile and active agricultural region, Moorhead is also home to several ...
, and received a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree in 1975. He obtained his legal education from the
University of Minnesota Law School
The University of Minnesota Law School is the law school of the University of Minnesota, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The school confers four law degrees: a Juris Doctor (J.D.), a Master of Laws (LL.M.), a Master of Science in Patent L ...
and received his
Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
in 1980. Tunheim then became a
law clerk to Judge
Earl Larson of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota from 1980 to 1981, and was in private practice in
St. Paul, Minnesota from 1981 to 1984. He was an attorney in the Office of the State Attorney General of Minnesota from 1984 to 1995, serving as an assistant state attorney general and the manager of the Public Affairs Litigation Division from 1984 to 1985, as Minnesota state solicitor general from 1985 to 1986, and as chief deputy state attorney general from 1986 to 1995. He was an adjunct professor in the
University of Minnesota Law School
The University of Minnesota Law School is the law school of the University of Minnesota, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The school confers four law degrees: a Juris Doctor (J.D.), a Master of Laws (LL.M.), a Master of Science in Patent L ...
in 1994. Tunheim also served as chairman of the
Assassination Records Review Board
The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, or the JFK Records Act, is a public law passed by the United States Congress, effective October 26, 1992. It directed the National Archives and Records Administration (NAR ...
, which oversaw the collection of records relating to the
assassination of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was in the vehicle with ...
, from 1994 to 1995.
Federal judicial service
On July 10, 1995, Tunheim was nominated by
President Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
to a seat on the
United States District Court for the District of Minnesota
The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota (in case citations, D. Minn.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Minnesota. Its two primary courthouses are in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Cases are al ...
vacated by
Donald Alsop
Donald Douglas Alsop (born August 28, 1927) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.
Education and career
Alsop was born in Duluth, Minnesota, and served in the United States Ar ...
. Tunheim was confirmed by the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
on December 22, 1995, and received his commission on December 26, 1995. He served as chief judge from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2022. He has sat by designation on both the Eighth and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals. Tunheim served on the federal judiciary's
Court Administration and Case Management Committee (CACM) from 2000 to 2009, and chaired it from 2005.
[ (conference biography)]
Sources
*
Minnesota judge: CIA ‘probably misled’ panel he led on JFK assassination University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs (2009).
References
External links
*
Appearances at the U.S. Supreme Courtfrom the
Oyez Project
The Oyez Project at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law is an unofficial online multimedia archive of the Supreme Court of the United States, especially audio of oral arguments. The website "aims to be a complete a ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tunheim, John R.
1953 births
Living people
20th-century American judges
21st-century American judges
Concordia College (Moorhead, Minnesota) alumni
Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota
People from Thief River Falls, Minnesota
United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton
University of Minnesota Law School alumni