Nominated by George W. Bush Preceded by George W. Lindberg | Name Amy St. Role Judge | |
 | ||
Born November 20, 1965 (age 59)
Belleville, Illinois ( 1965-11-20 ) Alma mater Cornell University
Cornell Law School Education Cornell Law School, Cornell University | ||
Amy J. St. Eve (born November 20, 1965) is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Contents
Early life and education
Raised in Belleville, Illinois, St. Eve received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1987. Three years later, in 1990, she earned her Juris Doctor from Cornell Law School. During her time at Cornell, she interned for a summer in the office of Senator Alan J. Dixon, who was from her native Belleville.
Legal career
Following law school graduation, St. Eve was in private practice at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City from 1990 to 1994. She was an associate independent counsel at Whitewater Independent Counsel's Office, Little Rock, Arkansas from 1994 to 1996, where she successfully prosecuted former Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker and Whitewater partners Jim and Susan McDougal for fraud.
From 1996 until 2001, St. Eve served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. She was a Senior Counsel for Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Illinois, from 2001 until 2002, when she became a federal judge.
Federal judicial career
On March 21, 2002, St. Eve was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois vacated by George W. Lindberg, who had taken senior status. She was recommended for the post by United States Senator Peter Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald told the Chicago Tribune in 2003 that before St. Eve applied for the judgeship, "I didn't know Amy or know anyone who knew Amy. I was looking for the best qualified person." She was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 1, 2002, and received her commission the following day.
Notable case
Judge St. Eve was assigned to the Conrad Black case; she ordered his release in July 2010 pending a possible retrial. He was later resentenced, after his appeal, by Judge St. Eve to 13 months in prison. This was in addition to the time he had served thus far and which would complete his previously modified sentence, which had been reduced from 6 1/2 years to 42 months overall, according to June 2011 CNN and Associated Press reports related to his trial.