Dean's Public Engagement Lecture: Illinois Supreme Court Justice David Overstreet
Thursday, October 26
“A Justice’s Reflections on the Operations of the Illinois Supreme Court and the Court’s Upholding of a Criminal Defendant’s Right to an Impartial Jury”
Free and open to the public.
A limited number of lunches will be available for lecture attendees.
Justice Overstreet will address the Operations of the Illinois Supreme Court, including: the Court’s Justices; appeals, briefs, and oral arguments under the Illinois Constitution and rules of Court; and judicial clerkships. In addition, he will discuss in detail the 2022 Illinois Supreme Court case of People of the State of Illinois v. Moon, in which an unanimous Court reversed a battery conviction because the trial court failed to administer the ‘trial oath” to the selected jurors, thus denying the defendant his state and federal constitutional rights to an ‘impartial jury.
David K. Overstreet was born on January 14, 1966, in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Lipscomb University and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Tennessee. He practiced law with Miller, Tracy, Braun & Wilson, Ltd of Monticello, Illinois, from 1991 to 1992, with the Law Office of Peter G. Angelos of Knoxville, Tennessee, from 1992 to 1995, and with Mitchell, Neubauer, Shaw & Hanson, P.C., Neubauer, Hanson & Overstreet, P.C., and Neubauer & Overstreet, P.C. of Mt. Vernon, Illinois, from 1995 until his appointment to the Second Judicial Circuit Court in 2007. After being appointed to the bench, Justice Overstreet successfully ran for election in 2008 and was retained in 2014. After being assigned to the Fifth District Appellate Court in 2017, he was elected to serve on that court in 2018. Justice Overstreet was elected to the Illinois Supreme Court from the Fifth Judicial District in 2020.
Justice Overstreet serves on the Illinois Judicial Conference and is Vice-Chair of the Public Education and Engagement Task Force. Justice Overstreet is the supreme court liaison to the Supreme Court Board of Admissions to the Bar, Supreme Court Committee on Character and Fitness, the Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice, the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC), and the Capital Development Board. He previously served on the Illinois Judicial College Committee on Judicial Education, the Supreme Court Judicial Mentoring Committee, and the Supreme Court Committee on Juvenile Justice. He was co-chair of the Family Law Track of the Judicial Education Conference in 2020. He was formerly a faculty member of the Illinois Judicial Education Conference, as well as chair of the Second Judicial Circuit’s professionalism committee and program administrator for its lawyer-to-lawyer mentoring program. Justice Overstreet is the President of the Illinois Judges Association for the 2023-24 term and previously served on the Illinois Judges Association Board of Directors and as an Executive Committee member. Justice Overstreet is a Past-President of the Jefferson County Bar Association. Justice Overstreet and his wife Suzanne have three children.
The Dean’s Public Engagement Lecture Series aims to increase interaction between the legal academy, the legal and business professions, and the public. The Series brings distinguished judges, lawyers, and businesspersons to the College of Law to talk on cutting-edge issues affecting law, justice, business, and government.