John Deacon Bates (born October 11, 1946) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a senior United States district judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He was appointed in 2001 by President George W. Bush, and he assumed senior status in 2014. He served as Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, from July 1, 2013 to January 5, 2015, after which he returned to full-time service as a senior judge.
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 1/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 2/year
District of Columbia District Court · 2001–2014
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
- Administrative Office of the U.S. CourtsDirector · 2013–2015
Board member · 2013–2015- Private practice, Washington, D.C.1977–1980, 1998–2001
District of ColumbiaAssistant U.S. attorney · 1980–1997- ↳chief, Civil Division · 1987–1997
- Whitewater investigationDeputy independent counsel · 1995–1997
Law clerk , Hon. Roszel C. Thomsen · 1976–1977
U.S. Army first lieutenant1968–1971
Appointments
2001–2014 · Appointed by George W. Bush (Republican)
Education
- University of Maryland School of Law (now Francis King Carey School of Law)J.D. · 1976
- Wesleyan UniversityB.A. · 1968