Senate Confirms Lashonda Hunt To Serve As District Court Judge For The Northern District Of Illinois

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today released the following statement after the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination of LaShonda Hunt to serve as a District Court Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois: 

“We are pleased that the Senate has confirmed Judge LaShonda Hunt to serve as a District Court Judge for the Northern District of Illinois.  Judge Hunt’s litigation and judicial experience, commitment to service, and knowledge of the Northern District of Illinois make her an outstanding addition to the district court.”

In October 2021, the Senators announced that they would begin accepting applications from those interested in serving as a Federal District Court Judge in the Northern District of Illinois.  The Senators were assisted by a screening committee whose task was to review and vet District Court candidates and advise the Senators regarding the candidates’ qualifications and fitness for the position.  

In December 2021, the Senators sent a letter to the White House recommending seven candidates for President Biden’s consideration for current and future vacancies on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, including LaShonda Hunt. 

Judge Hunt’s biography from the White House is below: 

LaShonda Hunt: Judge LaShonda A. Hunt has served as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Illinois since 2017. Judge Hunt previously served as General Counsel for the Illinois Department of Central Management Services in 2016 and as Chief Legal Counsel for the Illinois Department of Corrections from 2015 to 2016. Prior to that, she served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois from 2003 to 2005 and then again from 2010 to 2015. Judge Hunt was Assistant General Counsel at Exelon Company from 2007 to 2009 and Regulatory Outreach Manager at Com Ed, a subsidiary of Exelon, from 2009 to 2010. She also worked as a schools project director for the Just the Beginning Foundation from 2006 to 2007, a staff attorney for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1998 to 2001, and an associate at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP from 1995 to 1998. Judge Hunt served as a law clerk for Judge William J. Hibbler on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois from 2001 to 2003. She received her J.D. from the University of Michigan in 1995, and her B.S. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1992. 

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