Mary Margaret Rowland (born October 8, 1961) is a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (in case citations, N.D. Ill.) is the federal trial-level court with jurisdiction over the northern counties of Illinois. Appeals from the Northern District of Illinois ar ...

and a former

United States Magistrate Judge In United States federal courts, magistrate judges are judges appointed to assist U.S. district court judges in the performance of their duties. Magistrate judges generally oversee first appearances of criminal defendants, set bail, and conduct ...

for the same court.

Personal life and education

Rowland was born in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

on October 8, 1961. She earned her

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 ...

from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and her

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 ...

from 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 ...

."President Donald J. Trump Announces Fourteenth Wave of Judicial Nominees, Thirteenth Wave of United States Attorney Nominees, and Eighth Wave of United States Marshal Nominees" White House, May 10, 2018
Rowland worked on

Carl Levin Carl Milton Levin (June 28, 1934 – July 29, 2021) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Michigan from 1979 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the chair of the Senate Armed Services C ...

's 1984 U.S. Senate campaign and served as a

legal observer Legal observers are individuals, usually representatives of civilian human rights agencies, who attend public demonstrations, protests and other activities where there is a potential for conflict between the public or activists and the police, sec ...

for

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 ...

's 2008 presidential campaign.

Career

Upon graduation from law school, Rowland served as a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

to Judge Julian A. Cook of the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (in case citations, E.D. Mich.) is the United States district court, federal district court with jurisdiction over of the eastern half of the Lower Peninsula of the State o ...

. Prior to becoming a federal magistrate judge, she spent twelve years as a

partner Partner, Partners, The Partner, or, The Partners may refer to: Books * ''The Partner'' (Grisham novel), by John Grisham, 1997 * ''The Partner'' (Jenaro Prieto novel), 1928 * ''The Partners'' (book), a 1983 book by James B. Stewart * ''Partner'' (m ...

in the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

firm of Hughes, Socol, Piers, Resnick & Dym. Before entering private practice, she served for ten years in the Chicago office of the Federal Public Defender; first as a staff attorney and later as the office's Chief Appellate Attorney. In 2009, Rowland was first recommended to the Obama Administration to be a Federal judge by

U.S. Senator 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 powe ...

Dick Durbin Richard Joseph Durbin (born November 21, 1944) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Illinois, a seat he has held since 1997. A member of the Democratic Party, Durbin has served as the Senate Dem ...

Federal judicial service

From 2012 to 2019, Rowland served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Illinois. She was officially sworn in on October 1, 2012. At the time of her appointment, she was one of only a few openly gay judges in the country. On June 7, 2018, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

announced his intent to nominate Rowland to serve as a

for the

. Her nomination was the result of an agreement between Trump and Illinois' two Democratic U.S. Senators. On June 18, 2018, her nomination was sent to the Senate. President Trump nominated Rowland to the seat vacated by Judge Amy St. Eve, who was elevated to the

United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (in case citations, 7th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the courts in the following districts: * Central District of Illinois * Northern District of Il ...

on May 23, 2018. Rowland was President Trump's first openly gay judicial nominee. On August 22, 2018, a hearing on her nomination was held before the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations, a ...

. On October 11, 2018, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 16–5 vote. On January 3, 2019, her nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of 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 April 8, 2019, President Trump announced the renomination of Rowland to the district court. On May 21, 2019, her nomination was sent to the Senate. On June 20, 2019, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 14–8 vote, with the majority of the Republican Senators on the committee voted “no”. On July 31, 2019, the Senate confirmed her nomination by

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...

. She received her judicial commission on August 20, 2019. She was sworn in on August 22, 2019.

Affiliations and memberships

Rowland is a member of the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago.

References

External links