Who appointed James Henry Alesia?

President Ronald Reagan appointed James Henry Alesia to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 1987.

Was James Henry Alesia appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

James Henry Alesia was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was James Henry Alesia's confirmation vote?

James Henry Alesia was confirmed by voice vote on May 19, 1987. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Northern District of Illinois / Appointed 1987 / Served to 2003

James Henry Alesia

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 and confirmed by voice vote, James Henry Alesia was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He earned a law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1960. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1934–2003
Appointed by: Ronald Reagan, 1987
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Loyola Chicago 1956 · Chicago-Kent College of Law 1960
Succeeded: George Neves Leighton
Succeeded by: William J. Hibbler

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1987	Northern District of Illinois succeeded George Neves Leighton	Reagan (R)	Voice vote

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own. A voice vote means the chamber approved aloud. No senator-by-senator tally is recorded.

Confirmation vote

Voice vote

The Senate approved this confirmation aloud, with no senator-by-senator tally recorded. Recorded roll-call votes begin in 1989.

Education

Loyola University Chicago	B.S.	1956
Chicago-Kent College of Law	J.D.	1960

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Alesia was assigned 2,898 district-court cases (1981–2003). Median time from filing to termination: 120 days across 2,896 closed cases.

Real property21%

Labor & ERISA17%

Civil rights14%

Prisoner & habeas13%

Contract12%

Personal-injury torts7%

Other15%

Case assignment is from CourtListener’s PACER-derived docket records: a partial sample, not a complete caseload, reflecting the judge last assigned each case. How we count.

In our data, Alesia authored 393 published opinions for the court (1987–2003). Most cited: Cumis Insurance Society, Inc. v. Peters (65 citations).

A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Recent & notable rulings

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
1997	Cumis Insurance Society, Inc. v. Peters	983 F. Supp. 787	65
1994	Pacourek v. Inland Steel Co.	858 F. Supp. 1393	41
1991	Baxter Healthcare Corp. v. Hemex Liquidation Trust	132 B.R. 863	38
1998	Law Bulletin Publishing, Co. v. LRP Publications, Inc.	992 F. Supp. 1014	36
2000	Amoco Oil Co. v. Mobil Oil Corp.	90 F. Supp. 2d 958	35
2002	Medline Industries Inc. v. Maersk Medical Ltd.	230 F. Supp. 2d 857	34
1996	Lefebvre Intergraphics, Inc. v. Sanden MacHine Ltd.	946 F. Supp. 1358	33
2003	Interlease Aviation Investors II (ALOHA) L.L.C. v. Vanguard Airlines, Inc.	262 F. Supp. 2d 898	32
1999	Brandon Apparel Group, Inc. v. Quitman Manufacturing Co.	42 F. Supp. 2d 821	31
2000	Renalds v. S.R.G. Restaurant Group	119 F. Supp. 2d 800	30
1999	Industrial Hard Chrome. Ltd. v. Hetran, Inc.	64 F. Supp. 2d 741	28
2001	Spearman Industries, Inc. v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance	128 F. Supp. 2d 1148	27
1998	Hanley v. Omarc, Inc.	6 F. Supp. 2d 770	27
1997	K.L. v. Edgar	964 F. Supp. 1206	27
1996	Thermodyne Food Service Products, Inc. v. McDonald's Corp.	940 F. Supp. 1300	26

Showing the 15 most-cited of 393 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 James Henry Alesia?: President Ronald Reagan appointed James Henry Alesia to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 1987.
Was James Henry Alesia appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: James Henry Alesia was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was James Henry Alesia's confirmation vote?: James Henry Alesia was confirmed by voice vote on May 19, 1987. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was James Henry Alesia on?: James Henry Alesia was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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16 years on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).