Michael S. Kanne, one of Chicago’s most veteran federal appeals court judges, has died, according to an announcement from the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Diane Sykes issued a statement on behalf of the court on June 17, confirming Kanne’s death.
According to the statement, Kanne, 83, died on June 16 at his home, with his wife, Judy, by his side.
No further details concerning his death were provided.
Kanne was appointed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago in 1987 by then President Ronald Reagan. He has remained as a circuit judge on the court for the past 35 years. The Seventh Circuit hears appeals from cases in the federal courts of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.
Prior to serving on the Seventh Circuit, Kanne had served as a federal district court judge in the Northern District of Indiana, beginning in 1982, and as a state court judge in Indiana’s 30th Judicial Circuit for a decade prior.
Kanne had served in the U.S. Air Force, achieving the rank of lieutenant, after he graduated college in 1962, but before he began law school. He graduated from Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law in 1968.
During his tenure on the appeals court, Kanne was regarded as one of the court’s leading originalists, with a conservative judicial philosophy.
Based on court records, Kanne continued working throughout nearly all of the first half of 2022. He participated in several recent cases of importance.
He concurred in or authored opinions on numerous recent cases dealing with corruption in Illinois and Chicago politics; the limits of Gov. JB Pritzker’s powers during the Covid pandemic; the ability of church and religious employees to sue their employers for discrimination; and many others.
Most recently, he participated in the court’s en banc decision, limiting the ability of debtors to sue debt collectors for “abusive” debt collection practices.
In December, Kanne participated in oral arguments in an appeal brought by Gov. Pritzker, as he seeks to throw off federal oversight of historically corrupt state hiring and promotion practices. The court has not yet delivered a decision in that case. In a related case, Kanne had concurred with a majority opinion that the time for such federal oversight may be growing short.
Outside of the courtroom, Sykes noted Kanne also “held important national positions” within the federal court system, including as chair of the Judicial Conference Committee on Space and Facilities and of the Committee on Judicial Security.
Kanne is the father of two daughters.
“He was a devoted husband and father, a respected judge, a proud Hoosier, and a patriotic public servant,” Sykes said in her statement on behalf of the court. “He leaves tremendous legal and human legacies and will be greatly missed.”