Sarah Barker
2014 - Present
11
Sarah Evans Barker is a senior judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. She joined the court in 1984 after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan. From 1994 to 2000, Barker served as the district court's chief judge. Barker elected to take senior status beginning on June 30, 2014.[1][2]
Barker was the first woman to serve as a federal judge in Indiana.[1]
Early life and education
Born in Mishawaka, Indiana, Barker graduated from Indiana University with her bachelor's degree in 1965 and from American University's Washington College of Law with her J.D. in 1969.[2]
Professional career
- 2014 - Present: Senior judge
- 1984-2014: Judge
- 1981-1984: U.S. Attorney, Southern District of Indiana
- 1977-1981: Private practice, Indianapolis, Ind.
- 1972-1977: Assistant U.S. attorney, Southern District of Indiana
- 1976-1977: First assistant U.S. attorney
- 1972: Director of research, scheduling, and advance, Sen. Charles Percy (R-Ill.) re-election campaign
- 1971-1972: Special counsel, United States Senate Committee on Government Operations
- 1969-1971: Legislative assistant, U.S. Sen. Charles Percy, (R-Ill.)
- 1969: Legislative assistant, Congressman Gilbert Gude, (R-Md.) ([3]
Judicial career
Southern District of Indiana
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| Nominee Information |
| Name: Sarah Evans Barker |
| Court: United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana |
| Progress |
| Confirmed 27 days after nomination. |
 Nominated: February 15, 1984
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 ABA Rating:
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| Questionnaire: |
| Hearing: March 7, 1984
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| QFRs: (Hover over QFRs to read more) |
| Reported: March 8, 1984
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| Confirmed: March 13, 1984
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| Vote: Voice vote
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Barker was nominated to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana by President Ronald Reagan on February 14, 1984, to a seat vacated by Judge Cale J. Holder. Hearings on Barker's nomination were held before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 7, 1984, and her nomination was reported by U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) the next day. Barker was confirmed on a voice vote of the U.S. Senate on March 13, 1984, and she received her commission the next day. From 1994 to 2000, Barker was the district court's chief judge. She elected to take senior status beginning on June 30, 2014.[2][4]
Judge Barker commented on her decision to assume senior status:
| “ | It has been and continues to be an extraordinary privilege to serve as a federal judge in our Southern District. I have been the beneficiary of valuable, selfless guidance and support from many wonderful, highly talented colleagues, law clerks, court staff and lawyers, and most of all from my beloved husband, Ken, and our family.[5][6] | ” |
| “ | Judge Barker has long been a trailblazer in the legal community, from her initial appointment as the first woman Assistant United States Attorney, followed by becoming the first woman Federal Judge in Indiana, continuing to her current role as a member of the Court. In her thirty years as a district judge, she has bridged two judicial generations and provided valuable leadership and guidance to the bench and bar. We are very grateful for her continued service to the Court and the citizens of the Southern District of Indiana. | ” |
| —Hon. Richard Young, Chief Judge, Southern District of Indiana, [5] | ||
Noteworthy cases
Indiana foster care budget cuts (2010)
On January 22, 2010, Judge Barker issued an order enjoining the Indiana Department of Child Services from cutting state subsidies from foster parents and treatment centers for helping out troubled children. The judge issued an injunction and also consolidated another suit by the same group of plaintiffs suing to stop the State of Indiana from implementing service cuts as part of the state budget. The parties later entered into a settlement in February of 2011.[7][8]
See also
- United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana
- United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Republic, "Longest-serving federal judge in Indianapolis to scale back duties, opening door for new judge," April 1, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Federal Judicial Center, "Biography of Judge Sarah Evans Barker," accessed November 29, 2017
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedFJC Bio - ↑ United States Congress, "PN 696 — Sarah Evans Barker — The Judiciary," accessed November 29, 2017
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Indianapolis Business Journal, "After 30 years, Judge Barker to dial back caseload," March 31, 2014
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Indiana Lawyer, "DCS to appeal injunction on rate cuts," February 19, 2010
- ↑ U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, C.H. et al. v. James W. Payne; The Indiana Association of Residential Child Care Agencies, et al. v. Indiana Department of Child Services and James W. Payne, February 25, 2011
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Cale Holder |
Southern District of Indiana 1984–2014 Seat #2 |
Succeeded by: James Sweeney
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| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 |
Bartlett • Beam • Becker • Bork • Cacheris • Cardamone • Chapman • Coughenour • Cox • Crow • Cyr • Doumar • Eschbach • Forrester • Garwood • Gibson • Glasser • Hall • Hamilton • Head • Jones • Kiser • Krenzler • Lee • Magnuson • McLaughlin • Miner • Moore • Nowlin • O'Connor • Pierce • Posner • Potter • Russell • Ryan • Shabaz • Sprizzo • Stevens • Waters • Wilhoit • Wilkins • Winter | ||
| 1982 |
Acker • Acosta • Altimari • Bell • Bissell • Black • Bullock • Caldwell • Coffey • Contie • Coyle • Dowd • Fagg • Fong • Fox • Gadbois • Gibson • Ginsburg • Hart • Higginbotham • Hogan • Irving • Jackson • Jolly • Kanne • Kovachevich • Krupansky • Lynch • Mansmann • McNamara • Mencer • Mentz • Mihm • Moody • Nordberg • Paul • Pieras • Plunkett • Porfilio • Potter • Pratt • Rafeedie • Restani • Roberts • Scalia • Selya • Telesca • Wellford | ||
| 1983 |
Baldock • Barbour • Barry • Bowman • Carman • Carter • Curran • Davis • Dorsey • Feldman • Fish • Flaum • Gibbons • Hallanan • Harris • Hinojosa • Hull • Hupp • Katz • Keenan • Kelly • Kram • Laffitte • Limbaugh, Sr. • Limbaugh, Sr. • Milburn • Nesbitt • Nevas • O'Neill • Rymer • Sharp • Starr • Vinson • Vukasin • Wexler • Woods | ||
| 1984 |
Barker • Beezer • Biggers • Billings • Bissell • Boyle • Brewster • Browning • DiCarlo • Duhe • Garcia • George • Hall • Hargrove • Higgins • Hill • Holland • Ideman • Jarvis • Keller • Leavy • Lee • Legge • Leisure • Little • Livaudais • Longobardi • McKibben • Milburn • Newman • Norgle • Prado • Rea • Rosenblatt • Rovner • Scirica • Smith, Jr. • Sneeden • Stotler • Suhrheinrich • Torruella • Wiggins • Wilkinson | ||
| 1985 |
Alley • Altimari • Anderson • Aquilino • Archer • Arnold • Baldock • Batchelder • Battey • Broomfield • Brown • Brown • Brunetti • Buckley • Cobb • Conmy • Cowen • Davidson • Dimmick • Duff • Easterbrook • Edgar • Farnan • Fernandez • Fitzpatrick • Fuste • Greene • Gunn • Guy • Hall • Hilton • Holderman • Hughes • Johnson • Jones • Korman • Kozinski • La Plata • Leinenweber • Letts • Lovell • Ludwig • Maloney • Mansmann • Marcus • McDonald • Meredith • Miller • Mills • Miner • Motz • Nelson • Noonan • Porfilio • Revercomb • Rhoades • Ripple • Rodriguez • Rosenbaum • Roth • Ryan • Sam • Scott • Sentelle • Silberman • Sporkin • Stanton • Stapleton • Strand • Strom • Tacha • Tevrizian • Thompson • Todd • Tsoucalas • Walker • Walter • Weber • Williams • Wilson • Wingate • Wolf • Wollman • Young • Zloch | ||
| 1986 |
Anderson • Boggs • Bryan • Cedarbaum • Cholakis • Conway • Davies • Dearie • Dubina • Duggan • Edmondson • Fawsett • Fitzwater • Gex • Graham • Hackett • Hansen • Henderson • Hittner • Howard • Jensen • Kay • Kleinfeld • Kosik • Lagueux • Lechner • Magill • Mahoney • Manion • McAvoy • McQuade • Norris • O'Scannlain • Rehnquist • Ryskamp • Scalia • Selya • Simpson • Smalkin • Spencer • Stiehl • Wilkins • Williams • Woodlock • Zatkoff | ||
| 1987 |
Alesia • Beam • Bell • Conboy • Cowen • Cummings • Daronco • Doty • Dwyer • Ebel • Ellis • Gadola • Gawthrop • Greenberg • Harrington • Howard • Hoyt • Hutchinson • Kanne • Kelly • Larimer • Leavy • Lew • Marsh • Mayer • McKinney • Michel • Mukasey • Musgrave • Niemeyer • Parker • Phillips • Politan • Pro • Raggi • Reasoner • Reed • Scirica • Sentelle • Smith • Smith • Stadtmueller • Standish • Tinder • Torres • Trott • Turner • Van Antwerpen • Voorhees • Webb • Whipple • Wolin • Wolle • Wood • Zagel | ||
| 1988 |
Arcara • Babcock • Brorby • Butler • Cambridge • Camp • Conlon • Cox • Dubois • Duhe • Ezra • Forester • Friedman • Garza • Hutton • Jordan • Kennedy • Lake • Lamberth • Lifland • Lozano • Marovich • Nygaard • Patterson • Schell • Smith • Smith • Tilley • Waldman • Zilly | ||
Federal courts:
Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Northern District of Indiana, Southern District of Indiana • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Northern District of Indiana, Southern District of Indiana
State courts:
Indiana Supreme Court • Indiana Court of Appeals • Indiana Tax Court • Indiana Superior Courts • Indiana Circuit Courts • Indiana City Courts • Indiana County Courts • Indiana Municipal Courts • Indiana Small Claims Courts • St. Joseph County Probate Court • Indiana Town Courts
State resources:
Courts in Indiana • Indiana judicial elections • Judicial selection in Indiana
