James Earl Major (January 5, 1887 – January 4, 1972) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician. He served as a United States representative from Illinois, a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.
James Earl Major
Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals
Chief Judge — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Born 1887 in Donnellson, IL
Died 1972
FJC ID: 1467
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 27/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 204/year
Illinois Southern District Court · 1934–1937Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals · 1937–1972
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- White
Prior employment
- Judicial Conference of the United StatesMember · 1949–1954
- U.S. representative from Illinois1923–1925, 1927–1933
- Montgomery County, IllinoisState's attorney · 1912–1920
- Private practice, Hillsboro, Illinois1910–1912
Appointments
1937–1972 · Appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic)Term ended: Death
1934–1937 · Appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic)Term ended: Appointment to Another Judicial Position
Education
- Illinois College of Law (now DePaul University College of Law)
- Read law1910