Abner J. Mikva
Abner Joseph Mikva was a Democratic U.S. Congressman, federal judge, and law professor from Illinois.
Born in Milwaukee on January 21, 1926, he graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 1951. After clerking for Supreme Court Justice Sherman Minton, he spent ten years in the Illinois state legislature before serving in the U.S. Congress from 1969–73 and 1975–79, when he resigned to accept an appointment to the United States Court of Appeals. His status as an independent Democrat hostile to the Chicago Democratic machine enhanced his electability in a predominately Republican suburban district. In 1978 he had been narrowly reelected against Republican John Porter in what was one of the most expensive congressional races to that time. (Mikva then resigned the seat in 1979, and was Porter succeeded him anyway after another special election.)
He taught law at Northwestern University and was White House Counsel from 1993–94.
In November 2004, Mikva was an international election observer of Ukraine's contested presidential election.