Judge swears in Joliet’s Lausch as new US attorney for northern Illinois

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge has sworn in John Lausch as the new U.S. attorney for northern Illinois.

The U.S. attorney's office in Chicago says Lausch's swearing-in took place Wednesday. There will be a public ceremony later.

President Donald Trump nominated Lausch in August. The Senate confirmed the 47-year-old earlier this month.

The job is widely considered Chicago's second most powerful after major. Chicago U.S. attorneys have spearheaded investigations of former governors, as well as street-gang leaders and drug lords.

Lausch most recently worked at the Kirkland & Ellis law firm. Earlier, he was an assistant U.S. attorney in the office he now heads. His predecessor was Zachary Fardon. Fardon held the U.S. attorney’s job for more than three years before the Justice Department asked him and other U.S. attorneys to resign.