{{Short description|American judge (born 1964)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Pamela Pepper | image = Pamela Pepper 2020 (cropped).jpg | caption = Pepper in 2020 | office = Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin | term_start = November 1, 2019 | term_end = | predecessor = William C. Griesbach | successor = | office1 = Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin | appointer1 = Barack Obama | term_start1 = December 8, 2014 | term_end1 = | predecessor1 = Charles N. Clevert Jr. | successor1 = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1964}} | birth_place = New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | education = Northwestern University (BS)<br>Cornell University (JD) }} '''Pamela Pepper''' (born 1964) is an American lawyer serving as the chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin and former chief United States bankruptcy judge of the same court.
==Education== A 1982 graduate of Leland High School, Pepper was among the first racially integrated group of students to matriculate through the city’s public schools from K–12. She is one of the graduates featured in ''The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools'', a documentary film produced by Sam Pollard and fellow classmate Douglas A. Blackmon which first aired on ''American Experience'' on September 11, 2023.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/harvest-not-just-a-normal-school-yearbook/ "Not Just a Normal School Yearbook," PBS.org (''American Experience''), Monday, September 11, 2023.] Retrieved September 13, 2023.</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/02/arts/television/pbs-school-integration-harvest-busing-battleground.html Vognar, Chris. "Two Documentaries on School Integration Offer New Views of an Old Problem," ''The New York Times'', Saturday, September 2, 2023.] Retrieved September 13, 2023.</ref>
Pepper received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1986 from Northwestern University. She received a Juris Doctor in 1989 from Cornell Law School.<ref name=PepperNominee>{{cite web|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/05/01/president-obama-nominates-judge-pamela-pepper-serve-united-states-distri|work=whitehouse.gov|title=President Obama Nominates Judge Pamela Pepper to Serve on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin|via=National Archives|date=1 May 2014}}</ref><ref name="fjc.gov">{{FJC Bio|nid=1394661|inline=yes}}</ref>
==Career== She began her legal career as a law clerk for Judge Frank Minis Johnson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from 1989 to 1990. She served as an assistant United States attorney in the Northern District of Illinois from 1990 to 1994 and in the Eastern District of Wisconsin from 1994 to 1997. From 1997 to 2005, she worked in private practice as a criminal defense attorney, where she handled both trials and appeals in state and federal courts. From 2005 to 2009, Pepper concurrently served as a bankruptcy judge in the Eastern District of Wisconsin and Southern District of Illinois. From 2009 to 2014 she served solely in the Eastern District of Wisconsin and from 2010 to 2014 she served as chief United States bankruptcy judge.<ref name="fjc.gov"/><ref name=PepperNominee/>
===Federal judicial service=== In 2014, Pepper was one of three finalists recommended to President Barack Obama by the bipartisan Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission to fill a vacancy on the federal District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. The other finalists were attorney Beth Kushner and state-court judge William Pocan.<ref name=Worland>Gayle Worland, [https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime_and_courts/three-nominees-for-eastern-district-court-judgeship-named/article_ff3e8bc3-9cbf-55c0-b516-58df781cd045.html Three nominees for Eastern District Court judgeship named], ''Wisconsin State Journal'' (February 15, 2014).</ref>
On May 1, 2014, Obama nominated Pepper to the seat, which was vacated by Judge Charles N. Clevert Jr., who assumed senior status on October 31, 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/05/01/presidential-nomination-sent-senate|work=whitehouse.gov|title=Presidential Nomination Sent to the Senate|via=National Archives|date=1 May 2014}}</ref> She received a hearing on her nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 24, 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/judicial-nominations-2014-06-24|title=United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|website=www.judiciary.senate.gov|date=24 June 2014 }}</ref> On July 17, 2014, her nomination was reported out of committee by a voice vote.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Results%20of%20Executive%20Business%20Meeting%20-%2007-17-14.pdf|title="Results of Executive Business Meeting – July 17, 2014" United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|publisher=}}</ref> On November 18, 2014, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed a cloture motion on her nomination. On November 19, 2014, the United States Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 58–39 vote.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=113&session=2&vote=00283| title=On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Nomination of Pamela Pepper, of Wisconsin, to be U.S. District Judge)|publisher=United States Senate|access-date=19 November 2014}}</ref> On November 20, 2014, her nomination was confirmed by a 95–0 vote.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=113&session=2&vote=00288| title=On the Nomination (Confirmation Pamela Pepper, of Wisconsin, to be U.S. District Judge)|publisher=United States Senate|access-date=20 November 2014}}</ref> She received her commission on December 8, 2014.<ref name="fjc.gov"/> She became chief judge on November 1, 2019.<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Chief Judge Press Release |date=November 1, 2019 |location=Milwaukee, Wisconsin |url=https://www.wied.uscourts.gov/news/chief-judge-press-release |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{FJC Bio|nid=1394661}} *{{Ballotpedia|Pamela_Pepper}}
{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=Charles N. Clevert Jr.}} {{s-ttl|title=Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin|years=2014–present}} {{s-inc|rows=2}} |- {{s-bef|before=William C. Griesbach}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin}}|years=2019–present}} {{s-end}}
{{United States 7th Circuit district judges}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pepper, Pamela}} Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century American women judges Category:American women lawyers Category:Assistant United States attorneys Category:Cornell Law School alumni Category:Illinois lawyers Category:Judges of the United States bankruptcy courts Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin Category:Lawyers from New Orleans Category:Marquette University alumni Category:Northwestern University alumni Category:United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama Category:Wisconsin lawyers