The Dirksen Courthouse is pictured in Chicago. (Capitol News Illinois)

Federal officials are back to square one in the search for Chicago’s next U.S. attorney as President Joe Biden has nominated April Perry — the presumptive pick to succeed John Lausch — to instead become a federal judge.

The president has nominated Perry to serve as a U.S. district court judge for the Northern District of Illinois. She was among seven judicial nominees Biden announced Wednesday.

“These choices also continue to fulfill the President’s promise to ensure that the nation’s courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country — both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds,” the White House said in a statement.

Biden’s announcement means Perry will not become the first female U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and a new search must begin to permanently replace Lausch, more than a year after he stepped down.

Perry previously served from 2004 to 2016 as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Illinois. She also worked as the chief ethics officer in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office from 2017 until 2019.
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Perry earned the support of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, which recommended her nomination last September, and from Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, who said she “brings strong qualifications and a wealth of experience.”

But her nomination was among several that had been held up for months by J.D. Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, who accused U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland of using the Department of Justice to “harass Joe Biden’s political opponents,” adding that if continued “we will grind his department to a halt.”

The Northern District last year secured convictions against longtime Ald. Ed Burke and four former ComEd officials in separate bribery schemes, and is set to take former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to trial in October on racketeering charges.

Morris Pasqual has served as the district’s acting U.S. attorney since Lausch stepped down.