Rubén Castillo (born August 12, 1954) is a former

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. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

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 court with jurisdiction over the northern counties of Illinois. It is one of the busiest federal trial courts in the Uni ...

. In 1994, Castillo was the first person of Latino descent to be named a judge in the Northern District of Illinois, and in 2013 the first to become Chief Judge.

Early life and education

Born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

to a

Mexican-American Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United State ...

father and a Puerto Rican mother, Castillo was the first member of his family to finish college."Confirmation hearings on federal appointments : hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Third Congress, first session on confirmations of appointees to the federal judiciary"
(March 25; April 21, 22, 29; May 12 and 25) United States Committee on the Judiciary. Archived from the original on 5 May 2008. Retrieved 27 June 2016. Castillo earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in political science in 1976 from Loyola University in Chicago, working nights as a clerk at the Illinois Circuit Court of Cook County to put himself through school. He then earned a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from

Northwestern University School of Law The Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law (formerly known as Northwestern University School of Law from 1891 to 2015) is the law school of Northwestern University, a Private university, private research university. The law school is l ...

in 1979.

Professional career

From 1979 until 1984, Castillo worked in private law practice in Chicago as an associate attorney for the law firm

Jenner & Block Jenner & Block is an American law firm with offices in Century City, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. The firm is active in corporate litigation, business transactions, the public sector, and oth ...

. In 1984, he was named an

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gov ...

for the Northern District of Illinois. He worked as an Assistant United States Attorney until 1988, when he became a regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund. In 1991, Castillo returned to private law practice, where he worked as a partner at the law firm of

Kirkland & Ellis Kirkland & Ellis LLP is an American multinational law firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1909, Kirkland & Ellis has been the largest law firm in the world by revenue since 2017 and, as of 2025, is the seventh-largest by number ...

until 1994. Following his retirement from the judiciary, Castillo rejoined private practice in the Chicago office of

Akerman LLP Akerman is a United States–based law firm. It is among the 100 largest firms in the United States, according to rankings by ''The American Lawyer''. The firm has 25 offices across the United States and approximately 750 lawyers, with its large ...

Federal judicial service

On January 27, 1994, President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

nominated Castillo to a seat on the

vacated by Nicholas John Bua. At his confirmation hearing before the

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the United States Departm ...

on March 25, 1994, Castillo told senators that "...in my career I have had the privilege of serving various clients from all walks of life, from some of the corporate 100 organizations to individuals who had literally no assets, and I have always enjoyed the role of being the advocate for those clients, but I really came to a conclusion that I would like to have only one client from now on, and that client being justice, per se, and that is why I want to be a Federal district court judge." Castillo was confirmed by the full

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on May 6, 1994, and received his commission on May 9, 1994. Upon his confirmation, Castillo became the first Latino federal judge in the state of Illinois. He also served as a Commissioner of the

United States Sentencing Commission The United States Sentencing Commission is an independent agency of the judicial branch of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for articulating the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines for the federal courts. The Commission promulgat ...

from 1999 to 2010. Castillo became the Northern District's chief judge on July 1, 2013 and served his term until July 1, 2019. Castillo retired from active service on September 27, 2019.

Personal

Castillo and his wife, Sylvia Mojica-Castillo, were married in 1978. They live on Chicago's Northwest Side.

Notes

References