Edmund Ponce de León was the first Hispanic-American to be appointed as a Presiding Judge in the history of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois[1]
Ponce de León was originally elected as a Judge from the 6th Subcircuit of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, in November 1996.[2] He ran for re-election in 2002, 2008 and 2014 county-wide and was retained as a judge.[3] He retired as a judge on December 31, 2016.[4] Judge Ponce de León was initially assigned to the Domestic Relations Division, and in 2000 he was assigned to the Law Division, Commercial Section.[5]
Ponce de León was appointed presiding judge of the Fourth Municipal District (District 4 Maywood, Illinois) in 2002.[6] [7] In 2010 he was appointed Presiding Judge of the County Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County.[8] In June 2015, he was assigned to the Law Division hearing jury cases, pre-trial motions and Tax and Miscellaneous matters.
He retired as a judge in December 2016.