Richard Henry Mills (July 19, 1929 – July 16, 2023) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois.
Richard Henry Mills
Illinois Central District Court
Born 1929 in Beardstown, IL
Died 2023 in Springfield, IL
FJC ID: 1655
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 4/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 57/year
Illinois Central District Court · 1985–2023Superior Court of California, County of San Diego · 1998–2013
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
- Illinois Appellate Court, Fourth DistrictJustice · 1976–1985
- Illinois Circuit Court, Eighth Judicial CircuitJudge · 1966–1976
- Private practice, Virginia, Illinois1957–1966
- Cass County, IllinoisState's attorney · 1960–1964
JAG CorpsU.S. Army Reserve colonel · 1952–1954
Appointments
1985–2023 · Appointed by Ronald Reagan (Republican)Term ended: Death
Education
LL.M. · 1982- Mercer University School of LawJ.D. · 1957
- Illinois CollegeB.A. · 1951