Press Release - President Obama Nominates Three for District Court Bench

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Obama nominated Justice Sharon Coleman and Gary Feinerman to serve on the United States District Court Bench for the Northern District of Illinois and William J. Martínez to serve on the United States District Court Bench for the District of Colorado.

President Obama said, "Throughout their long and impressive legal careers, Sharon Coleman, Gary Feinerman, and Bill Martínez have distinguished themselves as some of our nation's best and brightest. I am honored to nominate them for the District Court Bench, and am confident they will approach the job with the utmost integrity and impartiality."

Justice Sharon Johnson Coleman: Nominee for the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois

Justice Sharon Johnson Coleman sits on the Illinois Appellate Court in Chicago, a position she has held since 2008. From 1996 until 2008, Justice Coleman served as a judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. Between 1993 and 1996, she held the position of Deputy State's Attorney and Bureau Chief for the Public Interest Bureau of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. From 1989 to 1993, Justice Coleman served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois. From 1984 until 1989, she was an Assistant State's Attorney in Cook County. Justice Coleman received her J.D. in 1984 from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis and her B.A. in 1981 from Northern Illinois University.

Gary Scott Feinerman: Nominee for the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois

Gary Scott Feinerman is a partner in the Chicago office of Sidley Austin LLP, where he practices in the general litigation and appellate practice groups. He received his B.A., summa cum laude¸ from Yale College in 1987 and his J.D. from Stanford, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and the Law Review, in 1991. After law school, Feinerman clerked for Judge Joel M. Flaum of the Seventh Circuit and for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States. After his clerkships, Feinerman worked in the Justice Department's Office of Policy Development (now known as the Office of Legal Policy). From 2003- 2007, Feinerman served as Solicitor General of Illinois, where he received Best Brief Awards from the National Association of Attorneys General in each year from 2004-2007.

William J. Martínez: Nominee for the United States District Court, District of Colorado

William "Bill" Martínez has been a partner at McNamara, Roseman, Martínez and Kazmierski in Denver, Colorado, since 2001. Between 1997 and 2001, he was a sole practitioner in Denver. Mr. Martínez served as the Regional Attorney for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1992 to 1996 at its Denver district office. He was an associate with Pendleton and Sabian in Denver between 1988 and 1992. From 1980 to 1987, he worked as an attorney for the Legal Assistance Foundation in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Martínez is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. He received a B.S. and a B.A. from the University of Illinois in 1977 and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1980.