Abraham Lincoln Marovitz

Abraham Lincoln Marovitz (August 10, 1905 – March 17, 2001) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Early life and career

Born on August 10, 1905, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to Orthodox Jewish parents who were Lithuanian immigrants, Marovitz grew up in the Maxwell Street area of Chicago, Illinois, after his parents moved to Chicago in 1910. Marovitz spent his youth selling newspapers, delivering groceries and prizefighting. As a teenager, he also worked as an office boy for a law firm, where a partner encouraged him to attend law school (and agreed to fund his tuition), even though Marovitz did not have a college degree. "In those days, you didn't need a college degree to go to law school," Marovitz later said. "So that's how I wound up the only sitting federal judge who never went to college." From 1927 until 1933, Marovitz was an assistant state's attorney in Cook County, Illinois. He then worked in private legal practice in Chicago with his brothers, Harold and Sydney, from 1933 until 1950. During World War II, Marovitz waived his deferment and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He was honorably discharged in May 1945 as a sergeant major.

When Corneal A. Davis first arrived in Springfield, Illinois, Davis was turned away from the hotel and resorted to staying at the train station. In protest, Marovitz joined Davis at the train station.

Judicial service In 1950, Marovitz became a judge on the Superior Court of Cook County. He served as a Superior Court judge until his appointment to the federal bench in 1963, serving as Chief Judge of the Cook County Criminal Court from 1958 to 1959 In 2003, Chicago–Kent College of Law began "The Honorable Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Public Interest Law Award", an award intended to recognize alumni who have demonstrated outstanding public interest. Recipients include the inaugural class of Jed Stone and Thu Tran, as well as Pablo Almaguer.