Who appointed Diane S. Sykes?

President George W. Bush appointed Diane S. Sykes to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 2004.

Was Diane S. Sykes appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Diane S. Sykes was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Diane S. Sykes's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed Diane S. Sykes 70–27 on June 24, 2004.

Seventh Circuit / Appointed 2004 / Senior status since 2025

Diane S. Sykes

Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2004 and confirmed by the Senate 70–27, Diane S. Sykes is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She earned a law degree from Marquette University Law School in 1984. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1957 · age 69
Appointed by: George W. Bush, 2004
Confirmed: 70–27
Education: Northwestern 1980 · Marquette Law School 1984
Succeeded: John Louis Coffey
Succeeded by: Rebecca Liane Taibleson

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2004	Seventh Circuit succeeded John Louis Coffey	G.W. Bush (R)	70–27

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own.

Confirmation vote

Nomination Confirmed 70–27 on June 24, 2004 · 108th Congress, Roll Call 152. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 70

21 D, 49 R

Voted against · 27

26 D, 1 I

Did not vote · 3

1 D, 2 R

Education

Northwestern University	B.S.	1980
Marquette University Law School	J.D.	1984

Judicial Record

In our data, Sykes authored 688 published opinions for the court (2007–2026). Most cited: Kendale L. Adams v. City of Indianapolis (1,086 citations).

Published, precedential opinions from the CourtListener corpus. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Selected opinions

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
2014	Kendale L. Adams v. City of Indianapolis	742 F.3d 720	1,086
2014	Jeffrey Olson v. Donald Morgan	750 F.3d 708	868
2020	Daniel Schillinger v. Josh Kiley	954 F.3d 990	564
2018	Kathy Haywood v. Massage Envy Franchising, LLC	887 F.3d 329	381
2018	Paul Lambert v. Nancy Berryhill	896 F.3d 768	351
2016	Joni Zaya v. Kul Sood	836 F.3d 800	351
2017	Margaret Cullinan v. Nancy Berryhill	878 F.3d 598	308
2020	Jonathan Chambers v. Kul Sood	956 F.3d 979	304
2019	Maurice Lewis v. City of Chicago	914 F.3d 472	295
2020	Dustin James v. Deborah Hale	959 F.3d 307	274
2014	Northern Grain Marketing, LLC v. Marvin Greving	743 F.3d 487	262
2015	John Taylor, Jr. v. James Brown	787 F.3d 851	257
2016	Ryan Lord v. High Voltage Software, Incorpo	839 F.3d 556	251
2019	Holly Vanzant v. Hill's Pet Nutrition, Incorpo	934 F.3d 730	247
2021	First Midwest Bank v. City of Chicago	988 F.3d 978	243

Showing the 15 most-cited of 688 authored opinions in our data. “Cited” is inbound citations across the CourtListener corpus. Case links open the ruling’s full text (CourtListener) or its page here; read the methodology and verify against the primary source.

Questions & answers

Who appointed Diane S. Sykes?: President George W. Bush appointed Diane S. Sykes to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 2004.
Was Diane S. Sykes appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Diane S. Sykes was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Diane S. Sykes's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed Diane S. Sykes 70–27 on June 24, 2004.
Which court is Diane S. Sykes on?: Diane S. Sykes is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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22 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).