Quick Facts
Biography
Sue Ellen Myerscough (/ˈmaɪərzˌkoʊf/; born October 22, 1951) is a District Judge for the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois and a former justice on the Illinois Fourth District Appellate Court.
Early life and education
Born in Springfield, Illinois, Myerscough received her Bachelor of Arts with honors from Southern Illinois University in 1973 and her Juris Doctor from Southern Illinois University School of Law in 1980 where she was an editor of the law review.
Professional career
Myerscough served as a law clerk for Judge Harold A. Baker, United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois, and was in private practice in Springfield, Illinois from 1981 until her appointment as associate judge in 1987.
Myerscough served as an associate judge until her election to the Illinois Circuit Courts in 1990, and in 1994 became Chief Judge of the Illinois Seventh Judicial Circuit and Presiding Judge of Sangamon County. She was elected to the Fourth District Appellate Court in 1998.
Failed nomination to federal district court
On October 11, 1995, President Clinton nominated Myerscough to a vacancy on the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois that had been created by Judge Harold A. Baker taking senior status in 1994. However, Myerscough withdrew her nomination. Clinton opted not to renominate Myerscough to the same seat the following year. Instead, he nominated Michael P. McCuskey to the seat in 1997, and he was confirmed in 1998.
Renomination to federal district court under Obama
In February 2010 Senator Dick Durbin recommended Myerscough to President Obama for a seat on the District Court. On June 17, 2010, President Obama renominated Myerscough to a federal district judgeship on the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois. Myerscough was nominated to fill the vacancy created after Judge Joe Billy McDade took senior status on February 28, 2010.
On July 14, 2010, Obama withdrew Myerscough's name to fill the McDade vacancy and instead renominated Myerscough to fill the vacancy being created by the retirement on August 1, 2010 of Judge Jeanne E. Scott.
Myerscough's nomination was reported by the full Senate by the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on February 17, 2011.
On March 3, 2011 the Senate ordered that her nomination be deemed as agreed to by unanimous consent, during the executive proceedings that were held on March 7, 2011. She received her commission on March 14, 2011.