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1943 –
The tie, exactly: Sarah Evans Barker was born June 10, 1943, in Mishawaka — the Federal Judicial Center's record gives the year and the place together, "Born 1943 in Mishawaka, IN" — and she is a graduate of Mishawaka High School, per Indiana University's honors biography. Born here, schooled here: the tie is at full strength.
The course: Barker took her bachelor's degree at Indiana University Bloomington in 1965 and her law degree at American University's Washington College of Law in 1969. She worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative assistant to Representative Gilbert Gude and Senator Charles H. Percy, then came home to Indiana and broke the first of her barriers: in 1972 she became the first woman assistant U.S. attorney in Indiana, serving in the Southern District of Indiana until 1976. She practiced as a partner at Bose McKinney & Evans in Indianapolis and served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana from 1981 to 1984.
The bench: President Reagan nominated her on February 14, 1984; the Senate confirmed her on March 13, and she received her commission on March 14, 1984 — the first woman federal judge in Indiana history. She served as chief judge of the district from 1994 to 2000, also a first, and took senior status on June 30, 2014. She served as president of the Federal Judges Association from 2007 to 2009. Two rulings stand for the whole at profile strength, on the Indianapolis Business Journal's account: her 1984 decision striking down Indianapolis's anti-pornography ordinance on First Amendment grounds, and her 2003 order ending the overcrowding of the Marion County Jail. In 2016, Courtroom 216 of the Birch Bayh Federal Building in Indianapolis was named the Sarah Evans Barker Courtroom — the first Indiana courtroom named for a woman judge, per the tribute entered in the Congressional Record on September 27, 2016.
The present state: Judge Barker is a living person and is treated here from the public record in her public role only. The Federal Judicial Center's record, read for this section in November 2026, shows her senior status with no end of service: she remains on the court in senior status, at that strength and no stronger.
Sources:
- Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, "Barker, Sarah Evans" (birth at Mishawaka; nomination, confirmation and commission dates; chief judge years; senior status)
- Indiana University honors biography (Mishawaka High School graduation; degrees)
- Congressional Record, September 27, 2016 (courtroom naming tribute)
- Indianapolis Business Journal, profile (first assistant U.S. attorney; the 1984 and 2003 rulings)