Federal District Court History
A Judge-by-Judge History of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana
By Hon. Robert L. Miller, Jr.
Inactive Senior District Judge
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana
Following is a meticulously researched compendium of 150 years of local court history, with biographical information on each judge and their most interesting cases. Judge Miller also includes his own unique viewpoints, stories, opinions, and humor, as well as local historical context.
About the Author
Robert L. Miller, Jr. was a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana from January 1986 until taking inactive senior status almost 37 years later, in August 2023. He was the court’s chief judge from 2003 to 2010 and took senior status in January 2016. He had also worked in the district court in 1975 as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Robert Grant. Judge Miller served on the St. Joseph Superior Court from 1976 to 1986, where he was chief judge from 1981 to 1983. Governor Otis Bowen appointed him to the superior court; President Ronald Reagan appointed him to the federal district court. In all, he spent 48 years in the judiciary.
A native of South Bend, Indiana, Judge Miller earned his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and his law degree from what is now the Indiana University McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis, Indiana.