Northern District of Illinois / Appointed 1980 / Served to 1987

Susan Christine O'Meara Getzendanner

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

Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 and confirmed by voice vote, Susan Christine O'Meara Getzendanner was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. She earned a law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 1966. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born
1939 · age 87
Appointed by
Jimmy Carter, 1980
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
Loyola Chicago 1966 · Loyola Chicago Law 1966

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1980Northern District of IllinoisCarter (D)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

Judicial Record

In our data, Getzendanner authored 151 published opinions for the court (1981–1987). Most cited: Graham v. Slaughter (54 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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

Showing the 15 most-cited of 151 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 Susan Christine O'Meara Getzendanner?
President Jimmy Carter appointed Susan Christine O'Meara Getzendanner to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 1980.
Was Susan Christine O'Meara Getzendanner appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
Susan Christine O'Meara Getzendanner was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Susan Christine O'Meara Getzendanner's confirmation vote?
Susan Christine O'Meara Getzendanner was confirmed by voice vote on September 29, 1980. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Susan Christine O'Meara Getzendanner on?
Susan Christine O'Meara Getzendanner was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Sources

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6 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).