Stephen Ray Wigginton is an American former attorney who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois from 2010 to 2015.

Biographical sketch

Stephen Ray Wigginton was raised in

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois, also known as Little Egypt, is the southern third of Illinois, principally along and south of Interstate 64. Although part of a Midwestern United States, Midwestern state, this region is aligned in culture more with that of th ...

and attended

Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a public university in Edwardsville, Illinois. SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.Butler 1976, p. 18 It is the younger of the two major inst ...

and later the

Saint Louis University School of Law Saint Louis University School of Law, also known as SLU LAW, is a private American law school located in St. Louis, Missouri. It is one of the professional graduate schools of Saint Louis University. The University hosted a law school briefly fro ...

. He began a career in corporate law before choosing to become a litigator with the St. Louis’ Circuit Attorney’s Office. Two years later, he returned to the private sector as a litigator. He would later go on to form the firm Weilmuenster & Wigginton PC and serve as a part-time Assistant State's Attorney in

Madison County, Illinois Madison County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a part of the Metro East in southern Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 264,776, making it the eighth-most populous county in Illinois and the most popu ...

. Governor

Rod Blagojevich Rod Blagojevich ( , born December 10, 1956), often referred to by his nicknames "Blago" or "B-Rod", is an American former politician, political commentator, and convicted felon who served as the 40th governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009, when ...

appointed Wigginton to be a member of the Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees for a term commencing August 8, 2005 and ending January 17, 2011 to which he was confirmed by the

Illinois Senate The Illinois Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state, State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adop ...

. Wiggington resigned from the Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees in 2010. Governor Pat Quinn appointed Donna L. Manering of

Makanda, Illinois Makanda is a village in Jackson County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 547, down from 561 in 2010. In the early 20th Century it used the slogan "Star of Egypt." Makanda is part of the Carbondale, ...

to succeed Wigginton and she was later confirmed by the Illinois Senate. In 2009, Senator

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 ...

sent a short list consisting of Wigginton and the then-sitting U.S. Attorney A. Courtney Cox to 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 ...

for consideration. President Obama announced his intention to appoint Wigginton the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois in 2010. 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 ...

voted favorably on Wigginton's nomination on June 24, 2010 and the full

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 ...

voted to confirm Wigginton by voice vote on August 5, 2010. Wigginton was sworn in on August 27, 2010. On November 24, 2015, he announced his resignation as U.S. Attorney effective midnight on December 11, 2015. On May 23, 2017, he was charged with

driving under the influence Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

after causing a one car crash in

Troy, Illinois ''For the village in Will County, see Shorewood, Illinois.'' Troy is a city in Madison County, Illinois, United States. The population was 10,960 at the 2020 census. Troy is part of the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its namesake in Li ...

. In 2019, the DOJ revealed that Wigginton had been investigated of sexual misconduct. Wigginton has since voluntarily not renewed his license to practice law in Illinois.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wigginton, Stephen R. Living people United States Attorneys for the Southern District of Illinois Illinois Democrats Year of birth missing (living people) Saint Louis University School of Law alumni Southern Illinois University Edwardsville alumni