Roger Leland Wollman (born May 29, 1934) 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 Circuit Judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. Cou ...

and former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He is the older brother of Harvey L. Wollman, former Governor of South Dakota.

Early life and education

Born in Frankfort,

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

, Roger's parents were Edwin J. Wollman (1907–1981) and Katherine (Kleinsasser) Wollman (1905–2002). His ancestors were ethnic Germans living in Russia and Wollman grew up

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

. He attended Doland High School. Wollman 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 from Tabor College in 1957. He was in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

from 1957 to 1959. He then attended the University of South Dakota School of Law, graduating magna cum laude in 1962 with a

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 1964, he received a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

Early career

Wollman began his career as a judicial law clerk to Judge

George T. Mickelson George Theodore Mickelson (July 23, 1903 – February 28, 1965) was an American lawyer, 16th Attorney General of South Dakota and 18th Governor of South Dakota, and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Distri ...

of the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota from 1962 to 1963. He was in private practice of law in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, South Dakota, from 1964 to 1971, and served as a State's attorney of Brown County, South Dakota, (in Aberdeen) from 1967 to 1971. Wollman served for fifteen years on the

Supreme Court of South Dakota The South Dakota Supreme Court is the highest court in the state of South Dakota. It is composed of a chief justice and four associate justices appointed by the governor. One justice is selected from each of five geographic appointment districts. ...

, including as chief justice from 1978 to 1982.

Federal judicial service

Wollman was nominated by President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

on June 25, 1985, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, to a new seat created by 98 Stat. 333. South Dakota senior senator Larry Pressler worked with the White House to secure this nomination, and recommended Wollman as a conservative judge. He was the first South Dakotan on that court in 25 years. Wollman 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 July 19, 1985, and he received his commission on July 22, 1985. From 1999 to 2002, Wollman served as Chief Judge. Wollman maintains his chambers in

Sioux Falls Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up t ...

, South Dakota. Among his judicial law clerks that worked under him include Ron A. Parsons Jr. and his successor

Jonathan A. Kobes Jonathan Allen Kobes (born August 25, 1974) is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Education Kobes received his Bachelor of Arts from Dordt University and his Juris Doctor from Harvard ...

. On February 9, 2018, Wollman notified 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 ...

that he intended to step down as an active judge no later than the end of 2018. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on December 14, 2018, upon the confirmation of his successor and former clerk,

Cases

* ''

United States v. Neil Scott Kramer ''United States v. Neil Scott Kramer'', 631 F.3d 900 (8th Cir. 2011), is a court case where a cellphone was used to coerce a minor into engaging in sex with an adult. Central to the case was whether a cellphone constituted a computer device. Under ...

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wollman, Roger Leland 1934 births 20th-century American judges American Mennonites American people of German-Russian descent Chief Justices of the South Dakota Supreme Court Harvard Law School alumni Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Living people Military personnel from South Dakota People from Spink County, South Dakota Politicians from Sioux Falls, South Dakota South Dakota lawyers Justices of the South Dakota Supreme Court United States court of appeals judges appointed by Ronald Reagan University of South Dakota School of Law alumni