Former Appellate Court and retired U S. District Court Judge, and
noted Saxophonist, Judge Blanche Manning Passes, Sunday, September
20th. Our deepest condolences to her family and friends.
The beloved Judge Manning of Chicago was an accomplished musician who
also performed and recorded with the KCR Ensemble. Blanche Manning
was the recipient of a Lifetime Award at the annual Martin's
International, Chicago Music Awards. Judge Manning and the KCR
Ensemble, an all-female band were nominated on several occasions with
one win. She was recently honored at the Appellate Court Black
History Program, February 2020.
The group photo shows Left to right:
Ephraim Martin, Judge Manning, Justice Shelvin Hall, Judge Drella
Savage, Christmas, 2019.
From 1968 to 1973, Manning served as an assistant attorney in the Cook County, Illinois State Attorney's Office. From 1973 to 1977, Manning worked as a supervisory trial attorney for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Chicago. She was also a lecturer at Malcolm X College from 1970 to 1971.
In 1977, Manning began work as a corporate litigation attorney for Chicago-based United Airlines. A year later, Manning transitioned to the role of Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, a role she held from 1978 to 1979. During that same time, Manning was an Adjunct Professor at the National Conference of Black Lawyers Community College of Law. In 1979, she started her judicial career as an Associate Circuit Court Judge in Cook County, where she served until 1986.
Manning was a lead Circuit Judge in the Illinois Cook Judicial Circuit Court from 1986 to 1987. Subsequently, she was a Justice in the Illinois First District Appellate Court of the Illinois Appellate Court from 1987 to 1994. From 1992 to 1994, Manning also worked as an Adjunct Professor at the DePaul University College of Law.
