Terence T. Evans

Terence Thomas Evans (March 25, 1940 – August 10, 2011) was an American lawyer and jurist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served more than 30 years as a United States federal judge, serving the last sixteen years of his life as a judge of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Before that, he served sixteen years as a United States district judge in the Eastern District of Wisconsin, including four years as chief judge for that district (1991–1995). Before his appointment to the federal judiciary, he served five years as a county judge and Wisconsin circuit court judge in Milwaukee County.

Early life, education, and career Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Evans received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Marquette University in 1962 and his Juris Doctor from Marquette University Law School in 1967. He was a law clerk to Wisconsin Supreme Court judge Horace W. Wilkie, from 1967 to 1968. He then served as an assistant district attorney for Milwaukee County, Wisconsin from 1968 to 1970, was in private practice from 1970 to 1974, and was a circuit court judge in Milwaukee from 1978 to 1980.

Federal judicial service On July 21, 1979, Evans was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to a new seat United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin created by 92 Stat. 1629. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 31, 1979, and received his commission on November 2, 1979. He served as Chief Judge from 1991 to 1995. His service terminated on August 11, 1995, due to his elevation to the Seventh Circuit. Evans was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 11, 1995, and received his commission the same day.

Pragmatism and humor Evans' judicial philosophy was marked by pragmatism, an approach well-served at the appellate level by his previous experience as a trial judge. He is particularly known for his sense of humor, and his willingness and ability to weave lighthearted remarks into his judicial opinions. Perhaps the best known example of this was the judge's opinion in United States v. Murphy, in which the following footnote was included:

Judge Richard Posner was also once the subject of Evans's wit, when he stated:

In another memorable quote, Evans described a case as "gummed up from the get-go", describing a case where petitioner Johnson lost his chance to be heard in federal Habeas Corpus (and thus dooming him to serve the remainder of his two consecutive life sentences) because of a delay caused by the state court which made petitioner Johnson's otherwise "properly filed" application for state review technically out of time.

An often-cited district court decision in an admiralty case from 1984 showed Evans' use of humor to veil his impatience with arguments he thought invalid:

In Crawford v. Marion County Election Board (2007), Evans dissented when Posner, joined by Diane S. Sykes, upheld Indiana's voter ID law. The Seventh Circuit's judgment was then upheld by a fractured majority of the Supreme Court of the United States.

According to the technology website CNET.com, Evans became the first federal judge to cite a YouTube video, in a published opinion he authored July 9, 2007. Evans rejected an insurer's malpractice lawsuit against its attorney, warning that if there were liability "litigation would become more of a blood sport than it already is. Lawyers would be even more obsessive about irrelevant and tedious details. No good could come of it."