David Frank Levi (born August 29, 1951) is an American jurist and former Dean of the Duke University School of Law. From 1990 to 2007, he was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, serving as Chief Judge from 2003 to 2007. He had been mentioned as a possible nominee to the Supreme Court.
David F. Levi
California Eastern District Court
Chief Judge — U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
Born 1951 in Chicago, IL
FJC ID: 1387
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 1/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 92/year
California Eastern District Court · 1990–2007
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- White
Prior employment
Dean · 2007–2018
U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California1986–1990- Eastern District of CaliforniaAssistant U.S. attorney · 1983–1986
Law clerk , Hon. Lewis F. Powell · 1981–1982
Law clerk , Hon. Ben C. Duniway · 1980–1981
Appointments
1990–2007 · Appointed by George H.W. Bush (Republican)Term ended: Resignation
Education
J.D. · 1980- Harvard UniversityM.A. · 1973
- Harvard UniversityA.B. · 1972