District court service President
Bill Clinton nominated Hamilton to be a United States district judge of the
United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on June 8, 1994. The Senate confirmed Hamilton by a
voice vote on October 7, 1994. He received his commission on October 11, 1994. Hamilton held that the
First Amendment did not prevent the city of Indianapolis from requiring
parental consent for children to have access to
video games containing explicit sexual content or extreme violence. This ruling was overturned by the Seventh Circuit. Hamilton drew headlines in 2005 for ruling that the
Indiana state legislature violated the Establishment Clause when it began sessions with
Christian prayers imploring conversion to Christianity or representing Christianity as the only true faith. He held that prayers invoking
Jesus Christ or using terms like
savior were sectarian, but names for God in other languages were permissible, absent evidence that those words were used in order to advance or disparage a particular religion. The ruling was overturned by the Seventh Circuit on the ground that the taxpayer plaintiffs lacked standing.
Court of appeals service On March 17, 2009, President
Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate Hamilton to a vacancy on the
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit that was created by Judge
Kenneth Francis Ripple, who assumed
senior status in September 2008. Obama formally nominated Hamilton later that day. He became President
Barack Obama's first judicial nominee when he was named for a seat on the Seventh Circuit. On November 19, 2009, Hamilton's nomination was confirmed by a 59–39 vote. He received his commission on November 23, 2009. He assumed
senior status on December 5, 2022. • In December 2017, Hamilton authored the majority opinion in
Dassey v. Dittmann, which denied Brendan Dassey's
habeas corpus petition to have his murder conviction thrown out because, his lawyers argued, it was based on a coerced
false confession. Dassey's confession had become the source of national outrage when portions of it were aired in the Netflix miniseries
Making a Murderer. Brendan Dassey was sixteen at the time of the confession, and had an IQ of approximately 80. Despite noting the numerous inconsistencies and troubling procedural problems with the confession, Hamilton, along with three Conservative judges on the 7th Circuit en banc appeals court, decided that the confession was a viable piece of evidence and that Dassey's murder conviction should stand. • On August 27, 2019, Hamilton wrote the majority opinion in blocking Indiana's parental notification requirement. Hamilton was joined by
Ilana Rovner, over the dissent of
Michael Stephen Kanne. On November 1, 2019, the seventh circuit denied rehearing by a vote of 6–5, with Hamilton in the majority, however
Frank Easterbrook, who provided the decisive vote, called on the Supreme Court to hear the case. • On August 29, 2019, Hamilton was one of 3 judges that upheld Illinois' assault weapon ban. • On February 24, 2020, Hamilton authored the majority opinion in
Viamedia v. Comcast, a case dealing with a contentious doctrine in American antitrust law known as
refusal to deal. Although the opinion was not based on a trial and only allowed Viamedia to proceed with its
monopolization claims against Comcast, some antitrust scholars believe the case could "breathe life" into refusal to deal claims, which have generally lost favor following the Supreme Court's decision in
Verizon Communications Inc. v. Law Offices of Curtis V. Trinko, LLP. • On October 16, 2025, Hamilton was one of three judges who blocked the Trump administration from deploying the National Guard against protesters in Chicago.. The Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court , and on December 23, 2025, the Supreme Court declined to reverse the ruling blocking National Guard deployment. ==Family==