Brookman to be sworn in to IN Southern District on Friday

Then-Magistrate Judge Matthew Brookman speaks at a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in January. Brookman was confirmed to the Indiana Southern District Court on March 29 via a voice vote in the U.S. Senate. (Screenshot from senate.gov)

The newest judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District will be formally sworn in Friday at the federal courthouse in Evansville.

Judge Matthew P. Brookman was nominated to the judgeship by President Joe Biden in January and was confirmed by the U.S Senate in March.

He received his commission March 31 and will be sworn in at 1 p.m. CDT Friday at the Winfield K. Denton Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse. Chief Judge Tanya Walton Pratt will preside over the en banc ceremony in Courtroom 301.

Brookman is filling the vacancy created by Judge Richard L. Young taking senior status. 

Brookman had most recently served as magistrate judge for the Southern District Court since 2016. His career history also includes work with the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Southern District of Indiana and Western District Missouri, with the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney of Jefferson County, Missouri, and in private practice.

In 2022, U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Brookman to the Criminal Law Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. And in 2010, then-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder honored Brookman with the Director’s Award for superior performance as an assistant U.S. attorney for his work on United States v. Jarvis Brown, et al., a quadruple homicide prosecution.

Like Young, Brookman will keep his primary chambers in Evansville.

The St. Louis native earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and history from DePauw University in 1990, then earned his law degree from the Washington University School of Law in 1993.

Indiana Lawyer will be present at the Friday investiture ceremony. Check back with our website on Monday for coverage.