Career
Born in Joliet, Illinois in 1946, Holderman received a Bachelor of Surgery degree from the University of Illinois in 1968, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1971. He then worked as a law clerk to the Honorary Edward J. McManus, United States. District Court, Northern District of Iowa from 1971 to 1972.
He was an assistant United States. Attorney in Chicago, Illinois from 1972 to 1978.
He was in private practice as a litigator in Chicago, Illinois from 1978 to 1985. On February 25, 1985, Holderman was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois created by 98 Statistics
333. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 3, 1985, and received his commission on April 4, 1985.
He served as Chief Judge from 2006 to 2013. In July 2010 the Court of Appeals ordered him removed from a drug trial underway, concluding that he had shown "unreasonable fury" towards the prosecution, the second time in a decade he had been chastised by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals for improper hostility towards the government.
Holderman assumed senior status on December 31, 2013. He retired from active service on June 1, 2015.
