John Raymond Tunheim (born 1953) is an American lawyer who serves as a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.
John R. Tunheim
Chief Judge — U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota
Born 1953 in Thief River Falls, MN
FJC ID: 2421
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 2/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 12/year
Minnesota District Court · 1995–
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 · 2021–2024
- State of MinnesotaOffice of the Attorney General · 1984–1995
- ↳assistant attorney general and manager of Public Affairs Litigation Division · 1984–1985
- ↳solicitor general · 1985–1986
- ↳chief deputy attorney general · 1986–1995
- Assassination Records Review BoardChairman · 1994–1995
Adjunct professor · 1994- Private practice, Minneapolis, Minnesota1981–1984
Law clerk , Hon. Earl Larson · 1980–1981
Appointments
- 1995–2023 · Appointed by William J. Clinton (Democratic)
Education
- J.D. · 1980
- Concordia CollegeB.A. · 1975