Judge Donald G. Wilkerson will be formally sworn in next Thursday, making him the first African-American U.S. magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.
He was appointed on January 4, and his ceremony is at 3 p.m., March 24 at the Federal Courthouse in East St. Louis, Illinois.
Wilkerson says that his appointment is important not only in judicial circles, but also because “all public institutions should reflect the makeup of the entire community.”
“It gives the community at large more confidence in the institution. Without confidence, the institution cannot exist.”
One thing Wilkerson has is confidence. A native of East St. Louis, he graduated from Illinois State University with a Degree in political science. He received a master’s degree in education from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville and a J.D. degree from Saint Louis University.
“It has been great so far,” Wilkerson said of his first weeks on the bench.
“I’ve become part of the process in various roles. I enjoyed riding the train, now I’m helping drive it.”
He called being a judge “intellectually stimulating” and said his first career as an educator paved the way for his legal advancement.
Wilkerson taught for 17 years in the East St. Louis Public School System, and he began law school at night at Saint Louis University while a teacher.
He said working as an educator gave him “an education that I could not have purchased and really prepared me for the legal world.”
“I always wanted to do it,” Wilkerson said of the law.
“One day a student asked me, ‘Why don’t you do it?’ I didn’t have an answer. I’d have to say that was my inspiration.”
It took 15 years to travel from teaching in a classroom to attending law school to being appointed to the bench, “which really isn’t a long time in the legal world,” Wilkerson said.
Prior to his appointment in January, Wilkerson was an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri for 10 years. He is also an adjunct professor at the Washington University School of Law.
Judge Wilkerson was one of 33 applicants for the position, which was vacated by the retirement of Magistrate Judge Gerald Cohn.
Not only is Wilkerson, 53, the first African American to serve on the Southern District bench, he is the first minority of any race or ethnic background.
On the Illinois State Bar Association website, Chief District Judge Patrick Murphy said it was not stressed that the district was specifically looking for an African-American or a female judge to fill the position. However, he noted that it is “important for the bench to reflect the makeup of the entire community.”
Peter Alexander, dean of Southern Illinois University School of Law, chaired a search committee and said Wilkerson was “the unanimous choice.”
Wilkerson says he brings “professionalism” to the bench because of his experience as a prosecutor and his understanding of the law.
“Everybody takes his or her lead from the judge,” he said.
