court seat vacated by Marvin Aspen, and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on July 14, 2003. He received his judicial commission on July 15, 2003. He retired on February 17, 2018. Notable cases During his years on the federal bench, Judge Der-Yeghiayan presided over several high-profile cases, including terrorism related cases. In October 2017, Der-Yeghiayan sentenced 18-year-old Abdella Ahmad Tounisi to a 15-year prison term, the statutory maximum, for seeking to join a terrorist group. (13 CR 328). Der-Yeghiayan presided over several other notable cases: Wallace v. City of Chicago, 472 F. Supp.2d 942 (N.D. Ill. 2004) (holding that a constitutional claim brought under Section 1983 action for false arrest begins to run at the time of the arrest, not at the time that the charges against the defendant are dropped)(affirmed by the Seventh Circuit in Wallace v. City of Chicago, 440 F.3d 421 (7th Cir. 2006) and the Supreme Court of the United States in Wallace v. Kato, 549 U.S. 384 (2007)). Gowder v. City of Chicago, 923 F. Supp.2d 1110 (N.D. Ill. 2012) (holding both that Section (b)(3)(iii) of the Chicago Firearm Ordinance was unconstitutionally void for vagueness and that it violated the plaintiff's Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms). United States v. Firishchak, 426 F. Supp.2d 780 (N.D. Ill. 2005) (finding that the defendant, who served as a Ukrainian Auxiliary Police Officer during the Nazi occupation in World War II, had made misrepresentations in his application for immigration to the United States, and revoking the defendant's Certificate of Naturalization). Life Center, Inc. v. City of Elgin, Ill., 993 F. Supp.2d 863 (N.D. Ill. 2013) (finding unconstitutional a specific ordinance of the City of Elgin that had effectively prevented Life Center and other religious organizations from providing ultrasound and other prenatal services to pregnant women free of cost)(after the Judge's ruling, the case was settled and Life Center was able to offer such services). See also List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Illinois List of first minority male lawyers and judges in the United States References External links Department of Justice resumé Evangel press release announcing federal judge confirmation 1952 births Living people 21st-century American judges American people of Armenian descent Assemblies of God people Evangel University alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois People from Aleppo Syrian people of Armenian descent Syrian emigrants to