Ann Claire Williams, longtime jurist with deep Chicago ties, to lead Anjanette Young inquiry

The first Black woman to become a federal judge in Chicago — who was once on the short list for the Supreme Court — will lead the investigation into the botched 2019 raid of Anjanette Young’s home.

Retired Judge Ann Claire Williams, now Of Counsel at the law firm Jones Day, will lead the inquiry, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced earlier this week.

Williams, 71, is originally from Detroit. After earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education and guidance and counseling from Wayne State University and the University of Michigan, she was a public school teacher in her hometown. She later attended law school at the University of Notre Dame, earning her Juris Doctor in 1975.

Williams worked as a federal prosecutor in Chicago from 1976 until 1985. That year, President Ronald Reagan nominated her to fill a newly created opening in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, according to the Federal Judicial Center.

In 1987, Williams was a founding member of the Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Chicago.

With her confirmation by the U.S. Senate in 1985, Williams became the first Black woman to serve on a federal bench in Chicago. In 1999, President Bill Clinton nominated her to fill a seat on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals that was vacated upon the death of Judge Walter Cummings. She served there until her retirement in 2018.

Sun-Times file photo

When Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens retired in 2010, Williams was considered as a possible successor, though President Barack Obama ultimately nominated Elena Kagan for the seat.

Since joining Jones Day, Williams has focused much of her efforts on “advancing the rule of law in Africa,” according to her bio on the law firm’s website.

“Devoted to promoting the effective delivery of justice worldwide, particularly in Africa, she has partnered with judiciaries, attorneys, NGOs, and the U.S. Departments of Justice and State to lead training programs in Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia,” her bio reads.

Williams has also taught at the John Marshall and Northwestern University law schools since 1979, according to the Federal Judicial Center. She has also taught at the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, according to Jones Day.

On Tuesday, Lightfoot announced that Williams and Jones Day would lead the outside investigation into the February 2019 raid on Young’s home. Young, a social worker, was naked and getting ready for bed when 12 officers — acting on bad information — entered her home to execute a search warrant. But it was the wrong unit.

Bodyworn camera footage of the encounter, obtained and broadcast by CBS last week, put City Hall on the defensive. The city’s top lawyer, Mark Flessner, resigned as corporation counsel and CPD Supt. David Brown moved all involved officers to desk duty.

And though Lightfoot has pledged full cooperation with Williams’ inquiry, the city’s Office of the Inspector General, as well as the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, are also conducting their own independent probes of the incident.