David Welford Williams (March 20, 1910 – May 6, 2000) was an American attorney and United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California, the first African-American federal judge west of the Mississippi. He is best known for his work in the abolition of restrictive covenants and for overseeing 4,000 criminal cases that stemmed from the 1965 Watts riots.
David Welford Williams
California Central District Court
Born 1910 in Atlanta, GA
Died 2000 in Los Angeles, CA
FJC ID: 2594
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 2/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 33/year
California Central District Court · 1969–2000
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
- African American
Prior employment
- Superior Court of California, County of Los AngelesJudge · 1962–1969
- Los Angeles County [California] Grand JuryJudge · 1965
- Los Angeles [California] Municipal CourtJudge · 1956–1962
- Private practice, Los Angeles, California1937–1955
Appointments
1969–2000 · Appointed by Richard M. Nixon (Republican)Term ended: Death
Education
- University of Southern California Law School (now Gould School of Law)LL.B. · 1937
- University of California, Los AngelesA.B. · 1934