Gregory K. Harris Is Sworn In as U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Gregory K. Harris was sworn in as the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois by Chief United States District Judge Sara Darrow on December 13, 2021, at the federal courthouse in Davenport, Iowa.

U.S. Attorney Harris was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden on October 27, 2021, and unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on December 7, 2021, for the Central District of Illinois United States Attorney position. President Biden signed Harris’s commission on December 10, 2021.

“It is an honor to serve as the United States Attorney for the Central District of Illinois,” Harris said. “This Office has a long history of excellence and integrity and has demonstrated its strong commitment to community safety. I look forward to leading this group of talented and dedicated attorneys and support staff. We will continue to partner with law enforcement to address current and future challenges in the Central District and to pursue equal justice under the law. I also look forward to working closely with defense counsel and the court. I am eager to get to work.”

Harris is an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois, where he has served since 2001. He has held various leadership positions in the office, including Chief of the Criminal Division. From 1988 to 2001, Harris was a partner at the law firm Giffin, Winning, Cohen & Bodewes, P.C. in Illinois. Harris served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois from 1980 to 1988. From 1978 to 1980, Harris was Chief Legal Counsel for the Illinois Governor’s Office of Manpower and Human Development and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Development. Harris served as an Assistant Appellate Defender in the Illinois Office of the State Appellate Defender from 1976 until 1978.
 
Harris received his J.D. from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law (formerly known as The John Marshall Law School) in 1976 and his B.A. from Howard University in 1971.

The swearing-in occurred in the Davenport courthouse because the Rock Island, Illinois, federal courthouse has been closed; construction is set to begin shortly on a new federal courthouse in that city.