John Tunheim

John R. Tunheim is a Senior United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota, a position he has held since 2022 after serving as Chief Judge from 2015 to 2022. He was born and raised in Newfolden, Minnesota, and graduated cum laude from Concordia College in Moorhead before earning his J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School, where he served as president of the Minnesota Law Review. Following a clerkship with U.S. District Judge Earl Larson, he entered private practice. He served as Minnesota's Solicitor General in 1985 and as Chief Deputy Attorney General from 1986 to 1995.

President Bill Clinton nominated Tunheim to the federal bench in 1995. He chaired the Assassination Records Review Board from 1994 to 1998, overseeing the release of JFK assassination records. He has been an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Law School and has worked on rule-of-law projects in over 40 countries. In 2010 he received the University of Minnesota Outstanding Achievement Award. He currently serves as the Eighth Circuit representative to the Judicial Conference of the United States. Tunheim has presided over notable cases, including litigation involving the online gambling operator Stake.us, but he remains a member of the judiciary, not the iGaming industry.