Appointments/Elections

Staci Michelle Yandle is the Latest Nominee to Federal Bench

On January 16, 2014 — the same day that the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the nomination of Assistant United States Attorney Judith Ellen Levy for a full Senate vote for confirmation to join the United States’ District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan — Staci Michelle Yandle was nominated to serve as an Associate Judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.

The White House nomination announcement stated:

“Staci Michelle Yandle has been a solo practitioner in southern Illinois since 2007, where her practice focuses on civil litigation in federal and state court. From 2003 to 2007, Yandle was a partner with The Rex Carr Law Firm LLC, and, from 1987 to 2003, she was an associate with the law firm of Carr, Korein, Schlichter, Kunin, Montroy, Glass & Bogard.  She received her J.D. in 1987 from the Vanderbilt University School of Law and her B.S. in 1983 from the University of Illinois.  Yandle served by appointment on the Illinois Gaming Board from 1999 to 2001, and on the Illinois Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights from approximately 1992 to 1996.”

Huffington Post coverage of Yandle’s nomination notes that, should she be confirmed, Yandle will join United States District Court Judge Deborah Batts (Southern District of New York) and become “the second openly lesbian African-American federal judge in the country.” Additional information regarding the Yandle nomination appears in The Washington Blade.