Marvin E. Aspen (born July 11, 1934) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Education and career
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Judge Aspen received a Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University in 1956 and a Juris Doctor from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in 1958.
He was a law clerk in the Court of Claims Section of the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. in 1958. He was in the Illinois National Guard from 1958 to 1960, and was an Air Force Reserve Command Airman from 1960 to 1964. He was also in private practice as an attorney in Chicago from 1958 to 1959, and in 1971, serving in the interim as an assistant state attorney of Cook County, Illinois from 1960 to 1963, and as an assistant corporation counsel for the City of Chicago from 1963 to 1971, where he was Head of the Appeals and Review Division.
He was appointed to the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, for an interim position on September 16, 1971, and on November 4, 1974, was elected to a full term. He served five years in the Criminal Division and three years in the Civil Law-Jury Division. As a state trial judge, Judge Aspen chaired the Recent Developments in Criminal Law, Evidence, and New Judges Committees of the Illinois Judicial Conference.
As an Assistant State’s Attorney, Judge Aspen was assigned to the Appeals Division in the State’s Attorney’s Office where he argued over 100 criminal appeals before the Illinois Supreme Court.
The cases Judge Aspen handled as an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago included Shakman v. Democratic Organization of Cook County, No. 69-cv-2145 (N.D. Ill.), a case that Judge Aspen handled at its outset until he left the City shortly thereafter to enter into private practice. Shakman involved allegations that the City, County, and Democratic Party conspired to perpetuate party loyalty, monetary contributions, and other forms of patronage as a condition of obtaining City and County employment. These actions allegedly excluded ordinary citizens without political connections from working for the City or County. Judge Aspen also represented Mayor Daley’s third-party testimony in the Chicago Seven Trial.
For more than three decades, Judge Aspen has taught courses in evidence, criminal law, trial technique, and municipal law at Northwestern University School of Law. In 1992, he was named the Edward Avery Harriman Adjunct Professor of Law by Northwestern University School of Law. He has lectured at university, United States government, and other legal education programs. Subjects have included judicial management, continuing legal education, and complex litigation. He has planned and participated in legal seminars at Harvard University, Emory University, University of Florida, University of Mississippi, Oxford University (England), University of Bologna (Italy), Nuremberg University (Germany), University of Cairo (Egypt), University of Zimbabwe, University of Malta, University of the Philippines, and the University of Madrid (Spain). He has served as Chair of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Criminal Justice of the John Marshall Law School and as a member of the Georgetown University Law Center Project on Plea Bargaining in the United States. Judge Aspen also has been a frequent faculty member of the National College of the State Judiciary, University of Nevada (Reno) and the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (Colorado). Judge Aspen has served on a special faculty (composed of British and American lawyers and judges) for the NITA Advanced Trial Advocacy Program, which introduces British trial techniques to experienced American Litigators. Judge Aspen has also served on a special faculty (composed of Scottish and American lawyers and judges) for an American Bar Association program, which is designed to acquaint Scottish lawyers with modern litigation and technology.
Aspen has written extensively on numerous legal subjects. His publications include five books and more than two dozen articles.
Federal judicial service
On April 30, 1979, Judge Aspen was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois created by 92 Stat. 1629. He was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on July 23, 1979, and received his commission on July 24, 1979. He served as Chief Judge from 1995 to 2002, assuming senior status on July 1, 2002.