Sunil Harjani confirmed as Illinois federal district court judge
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Arun Kumar
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Sunil R. Harjani being sworn in by Chief Judge Rubén Castillon as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Illinois in a private ceremony on January 10, 2019. Photo credit: https://www.ilnd.uscourts.gov
The US Senate has confirmed Indian American federal Magistrate Judge Sunil Harjani, a Joliet native and Northwestern graduate, to be a federal district court judge on the Chicago-based Northern District of Illinois.
With the Senate’s 53-46 vote Tuesday to confirm Harjani, he becomes the first South Asian American to serve as a US district judge in the Northern District of Illinois
“We are pleased that the Senate has confirmed Judge Sunil Harjani to serve as a District Court Judge for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division,” US Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and US Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) stated.
READ: Biden naming Sunil R. Harjani to Illinois District Court (January 10, 2024)
“Judge Harjani was highly regarded by our screening committee and brings strong qualifications and a wealth of courtroom experience—including as a Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Illinois since 2019—that will strengthen our federal bench,” they wrote.
Harjani has been a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Illinois since 2019, according to his White House profile.
He previously served as an Assistant US Attorney and Deputy Chief of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Section in the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois from 2008 to 2019.
He also practiced federal civil litigation as a senior counsel at the US Securities & Exchange Commission from 2004 to 2008 and as an associate at Jenner & Block LLP in Chicago from 2000 to 2001 and 2002 to 2004.
Harjani served as a law clerk for Judge Suzanne B. Conlon on the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois from 2001 to 2002.
READ: Here are some of the top Indian American judges (July 23, 2020)
He received his JD, cum laude, from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in 2000 and his BA from Northwestern University in 1997.
Applauding Harjani’s confirmation, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) stated, “Harjani, the first South Asian American to serve as a US Magistrate in the Northern District of Illinois, brings deep experience to the bench.”
Priya Purandare, Executive Director of NAPABA, also thanked President Joe Biden for nominating Harjani and Senators Durbin and Duckworth of Illinois, and Senators John Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia for supporting his nomination.
