Joliet native resigns as Chicago’s top federal prosecutor

Chicago’s top federal prosecutor officially resigned from the Justice Department on Wednesday afternoon. Attorney General Merrick Garland said that U.S. Attorney of the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch will be leaving to join the private sector.

Lausch, who was nominated by President Trump in 2017, was originally asked to step down by the Biden administration after taking office. The White House reversed course after U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth wrote a letter to President Biden praising the job Lausch had done as a federal prosecutor.

John Lausch is a Joliet native and Joliet Catholic Academy alum. He was assistant U.S. Attorney in Northern Illinois from 1999 to 2010.