Roy Laverne Stephenson (March 14, 1917 – November 5, 1982) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and previously was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.
Roy Laverne Stephenson
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals
Chief Judge — U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
Born 1917 in Spirit Lake, IA
Died 1982
FJC ID: 2287
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 37/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 739/year
Iowa Southern District Court · 1960–1971Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals · 1971–1982
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
U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Iowa1953–1960- Private practice, Des Moines, Iowa1946–1953
U.S. Army captain1941–1946- U.S. Army Reserve second lieutenant1938–1941
- Private practice, Mapleton, Iowa1940–1941
Appointments
1971–1982 · Appointed by Richard M. Nixon (Republican)Term ended: Death
1960–1971 · Appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican)Term ended: Appointment to Another Judicial Position
Education
J.D. · 1940- University of IowaB.A. · 1938