Staci Michelle Yandle (born July 27, 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 Southern District of Illinois The United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois (in case citations, S.D. Ill.) is a federal district court covering approximately the southern third of the state of Illinois. Appeals from the Southern District of Illinois ...

Biography

Yandle received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in political science in 1983 from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

. She received 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 1987 from the

Vanderbilt University School of Law Vanderbilt University Law School (also known as Vanderbilt Law School or VLS) is a graduate school of Vanderbilt University. Established in 1874, it is one of the oldest law schools in the southern United States. Vanderbilt Law School has consiste ...

. From 1987 to 2003, she was an associate with the law firm of Carr, Korein, Schlichter, Kunin, Montroy, Glass & Bogard. From 2003 to 2007, she was a partner with The Rex Carr Law Firm LLC. At this firm she was the first woman and African American partner. Here Yandle focused her practice on personal injury, nursing home negligence, and medical malpractice. From 2007 to 2014, she was a solo practitioner in

O'Fallon, Illinois O'Fallon is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. The 2020 census listed the population at 32,289. The city is the second largest city in the Metro-East region and Southern Illinois. It sits from Scott Air Force Base and from Do ...

. When she was a solo practitioner, she focused on civil litigation in federal and state courts. In addition to her practice of law, she served on the Illinois Advisory Committee to the

United States Commission on Civil Rights The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (CCR) is a bipartisan, independent commission of the United States federal government, created by the Civil Rights Act of 1957 during the Eisenhower administration, that is charged with the responsibility for ...

from 1992 to 1996, and by appointment on the Illinois Gaming Board, from 1999 to 2001. She has also served on the board of governors of the

American Association for Justice The American Association for Justice (AAJ), formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) is a nonprofit advocacy and lobbying organization for plaintiff's lawyers in the United States. Focused on opposing tort reform, the organiza ...

and the St. Clair County Bar Association. She is a former president of the Metro East Bar Association.

Federal judicial service

On January 16, 2014, 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 Yandle to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, to the seat being vacated by Judge John Phil Gilbert, who 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 March 15, 2014. She received a hearing before the

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary 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 March 12, 2014. On April 3, 2014 her nomination was reported out of committee by a 17–1 vote. On June 12, 2014,

Senate Majority Leader The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as the chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holding t ...

Harry Reid Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2017 and was the Sena ...

filed for a motion to invoke

cloture Cloture (, also ), closure or, informally, a guillotine, is a motion or process in parliamentary procedure aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. ...

on the nomination. On Monday, June 16, 2014 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 ...

invoked cloture on her nomination by a 55–37 vote. On Tuesday, June 17, 2014, her nomination was confirmed by a 52–44 vote. She received her judicial commission on June 19, 2014. Yandle was sworn in on August 21, 2014.

Notable cases

In ''United States v. Iyman Faris'' Yandle denied a motion seeking to take away citizenship from Iyman Faris on July 11, 2018. Faris became a naturalized citizen in 1999. He was prisoned after pleading guilty to his involvement to a 2003 terrorism plot to cut the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge. He was sentenced to 20 years. It was argued to take away his citizenship claiming that he willfully misrepresented himself to earn citizenship. Yandle rejected the argument on the basis that there is no evidence on the record to support this. Yandle's order was not the end of the suit, as on February 3, 2020, she sided with the government in revoking his citizenship, citing there had been clear evidence given.

Personal life

In the fall of 1984 Yandle was diagnosed with a brain aneurism that needed emergency attention. Her prognosis warned her that she might lose her sight, ability to talk, and that she needed to leave law school. However, she left the hospital 10 days later to return to Vanderbilt in January. Yandle's medical journey led her to come out as a lesbian. Yandle is

openly gay Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

. She is the first openly gay judge in 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 Ill ...

, which covers Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.Obama to nominate first black lesbian judge in 20 years
''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...

'', January 16, 2014 She also is the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

district judge ever to sit on the federal bench in the Southern District of Illinois.

References

External links

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Staci Michelle Yandle's senate hearing questionsJudge Staci M. Yandle's Case Management Procedures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yandle, Staci M. 1961 births Living people 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women judges African-American judges American lesbians American women lawyers Illinois lawyers Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois African-American LGBT people LGBT appointed officials in the United States LGBT judges American LGBT lawyers LGBT people from Illinois People from Centreville, Illinois People from Carlyle, Illinois United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama University of Illinois alumni Vanderbilt University Law School alumni