Galesburg Reporter

Lisa Holder White recently joined Illinois’ Supreme Court, which has garnered attention from state leadership.

“In case you missed it, Illinois history was made this week,” Sen. Win Stoller (R-Peoria) wrote on Facebook. “Holder White is the first African American woman to serve on the state’s highest court in its 203-year history. Congratulations to Justice Holder White on your accomplishments and this well-deserved honor.”

Holder White graduated from Lewis University in 1990, with Magna Cum Laude honors, in 1990. Three years later, she earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois College of Law in Urbana-Champaign.

She has served as Assistant State's Attorney in Macon County, and as an Associate Judge in the Sixth Judicial District before her appointment to a Circuit Court Judge position. Following appointment by the state supreme court, she was  sworn in on January 14, 2013, as the first Black Justice on the Illinois Appellate Court, Fourth District. In 2014, she was elected to the Illinois Appellate Court, Fourth District. 

“My service to the judiciary for the past 21 years has helped prepare me for this historic moment,” she said, according to the Millikin University website. "I look forward to the privilege of resolving matters my fellow citizens bring before the Court.”

Holder White was selected by retiring Justice Rita Garman to finish her term in the central Illinois district, with the six other jurists on the court approving the appointment of the Decatur Republican this spring.

The Chicago Sun-Times wrote Justice Mary Jane Theis swore Holder White in at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

“My heritage is a heritage that once involved minds and bodies that were shackled, and doors that were so, so long closed,” Holder White said. “Taking my oath in this place today recognizes the undeniable value and merit of what I — as a Black woman, mother, daughter, sister, wife, and jurist — have to contribute to the work of our state’s highest court. It is proof positive of the progress of this great nation and our great state. It is a testimony to the notion that as women and people of color we need not limit our dreams or settle for less.”