On July 31, 2008, President George W. Bush nominated Tharp to replace Mark Filip on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.[6] The nomination generated no controversy, but was made with less than six months remaining in the Bush presidency and was returned after not being acted upon by the 110th Congress.
On July 5, 2011, Senator Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican, recommended to President Barack Obama, a Democrat, that Tharp be appointed to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.[7] The recommendation stemmed from a long-standing tradition in Illinois that, when the state is represented in the Senate by a Democrat and a Republican, the senator from the president's party gets to recommend candidates for two in every three judicial vacancies and the other senator chooses candidates for one in three.
On November 10, 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Tharp to be a district judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, filling the vacancy created by Judge Blanche M. Manning, who assumed senior status in 2010.[4] Tharp received his hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 26, 2012, and his nomination was reported to the Senate floor on February 16, 2012, by a voice vote, with Senator Mike Lee recording the only no vote.[8]
On May 14, 2012, the United States Senate confirmed Tharp by an 86–1 vote, with Senator Mike Lee casting the lone nay vote.[9] "I'm honored by both the nomination and the confirmation," Tharp told the Chicago Tribune shortly after the vote. "It's a real credit to both our senators that they worked together to get this done."[10] He received his commission on May 16, 2012.[5]
