William J. Bauer

William J. Bauer
Senior Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Incumbent
Assumed office October 31, 1994
Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
In office September 1986 – July 31, 1993
Preceded by	Walter J. Cummings Jr.
Succeeded by	Richard Posner
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
In office December 20, 1974 – October 31, 1994
Appointed by	Gerald Ford
Preceded by	Otto Kerner Jr.
Succeeded by	Diane Wood
Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
In office November 10, 1971 – January 3, 1975
Appointed by	Richard Nixon
Preceded by	Joseph Sam Perry
Succeeded by	Alfred Younges Kirkland Sr.
Personal details
Born	William Joseph Bauer (1926-09-15) September 15, 1926 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Education	Elmhurst College (AB) DePaul University (JD)

William Joseph Bauer (born September 15, 1926) is an inactive senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago and previously a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Education and career

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Bauer served in the United States Army from 1945 to 1947. He received an Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1949 from Elmhurst College and a Juris Doctor in 1952 from DePaul University College of Law. He served as an assistant state's attorney in DuPage County, Illinois from 1952 to 1956, serving as first assistant state's attorney from 1956 to 1958 and serving as state's attorney from 1959 to 1964. He was an instructor at Elmhurst College from 1952 to 1959 and was in private practice in Illinois from 1953 to 1964. He served as a Judge of the Illinois Circuit Court for the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit from 1964 to 1970. He was the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois from 1970 to 1971.

Federal judicial service

Bauer was nominated by President Richard Nixon on September 14, 1971, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois vacated by Judge Joseph Sam Perry. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 8, 1971, and received his commission on November 10, 1971. His service terminated on January 3, 1975, due to elevation to the Seventh Circuit.

Bauer in 2012

Bauer was nominated by President Gerald Ford on December 11, 1974, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit vacated by Judge Otto Kerner Jr. He was confirmed by the Senate on December 19, 1974, and received his commission on December 20, 1974. He served as Chief Judge from 1986 to 1993. He assumed senior status on October 31, 1994. He was a Member of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1987 to 1993.

On April 19, 2018, Bauer wrote the majority opinion striking down Indiana's ban on abortion due to disability as unconstitutional. Bauer was joined by Joel Flaum, over the dissent of Daniel Anthony Manion. This part was upheld in Box v. Planned Parenthood.

Personal life

Bauer in 2012, with Patricia Spratt (who he married the following year)

In 2013, Bauer married Patricia Spratt, an appellate litigator and a shareholder of the firm Shefsky & Froelich. She had previous clerked for Bauer in 1991 and 1992. In 2015, the Illinois Supreme Court appointed Spratt to a vacant judgeship on the 7th subcircuit of the Cook County Circuit Court. She was elected to the judgeship in 2016, and won retention in 2022.

Honor

Bauer was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State’s highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois in 2010 in the area of Government & Law.

See also

• List of United States federal judges by longevity of service

External links

• William Joseph Bauer at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• DCBA Brief Online