Trump chooses Joseph Falvey for federal judgeship in northern Indiana

President Donald Trump named federal prosecutor Joseph Falvey as his choice for a judgeship on the US District Court for the Northern District of Indiana in a 19 October 2026 Truth Social post reproduced by the Trump’s Truth archive. [1]

Falvey is an assistant US attorney and chief of the appellate division in northern Indiana. In a 1 October announcement, his office credited him with prosecuting Jianhua Zhao, who received 78 months in prison after pleading guilty to methamphetamine and cocaine offences. [3]

A Yale Law School graduate, Falvey clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts during the Supreme Court’s 2019–20 term before joining law firm Jones Day, Bloomberg Law reported. He had previously clerked for Thomas Griffith of the DC Circuit appeals court and federal district judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington. [7]

The Pat Tillman Foundation lists Falvey as a 2014 scholar. Its biography says he graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2009 and served five years as a Marine Corps infantry officer, deploying twice to Afghanistan. [4]

Trump praised Falvey’s work on public safety and law and order, and said Falvey would “strongly protect our cherished Constitution and Rule of Law” as a judge. [1]

The federal judiciary’s vacancy list, updated on 19 October, records Judge Philip Peter Simon’s planned retirement on 8 July 2027, with notice recorded on 22 September 2026. Trump’s announcement did not specify which judge Falvey would succeed or when he would take office. [2] [1]