Applications open for Chicago Magistrate Judge position

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois is accepting applications for a full-time United States Magistrate Judge position in the Eastern Division.


The deadline for the submission of completed applications is 5:00 p.m. on February 2, 2024. This link should lead as directly as to the basic application. But, forms in addition to the basic application are also required; click here to get to a page linking to all the various application, certification, and waiver forms. If none of that works, try clicking here.

Filling this U.S. Magistrate Judge position is contingent upon approval of the Seventh Circuit Judicial Council and of the Judicial Conference Committee on the Administration of the Magistrate Judges System. The candidate selected will be appointed only upon the successful completion of a Federal Bureau Investigation and Internal Revenue Service background check.

Quoting now from the Court's notice of the vacancy, eligible applicants must

1. be, and have been for at least five years, a member in good standing of the bar of the highest court of a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or the Virgin Islands of the United States, and have been engaged in the active practice of law for a period of at least five years (though other kinds of legal experience may also qualify);


2. be competent to perform all of the duties of the office; be of good moral character, emotionally stable and mature; be committed to equal justice under the law; be in good health; be patient and courteous; and be capable of deliberation and decisiveness;


3. be less than seventy years of age; and


4. not be related to a judge of the district court.

The current annual salary of a United States Magistrate Judge is $223,836. A United States Magistrate Judge who retires after attaining the age of 65 years and serving at least 14 years, whether continuously or not, shall be entitled to receive, during the remainder of the Magistrate Judge's lifetime, an annuity equal to the salary being received at the time the United States Magistrate Judge leaves office. Which is nice.

All applications have to go through the U.S. District Court's application webiste. Applicants must not seek interviews with or submit letters of reference to individual judges or members of the Merit Selection Panel.

Properly submitted applications will be reviewed by a Merit Selection Panel, composed of attorneys and other members of the community. The panel will recommend to the judges of the Court, in confidence, a list of the persons whom it considers best qualified. The Court will make the appointment of the person selected to fill the position, subject to a Federal Bureau of Investigation full-field investigation and Internal Revenue Service tax check. The Court makes efforts to give consideration to all qualified candidates, including women and members of minority or marginalized groups.

All applications will be kept confidential, except as necessary for the Merit Selection Panel to perform its duties, and all applications will be examined only by members of the Merit Selection Panel and the district judges of the District Court.