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David Bryan Sentelle (born February 12, 1943) is aSenior United States circuit judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He previously was a U.S. district judge on theUnited States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina from 1985 to 1987.
David Sentelle was born inCanton,North Carolina. His father was a mill worker. Sentelle was raised inCandler, North Carolina. He graduated fromEnka High School in 1961, where he was a classmate ofThomas A. Furness III, who is the "Grandfather of Virtual Reality."
Sentelle received aBachelor of Arts degree from theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1965. He received aJuris Doctor degree from theUniversity of North Carolina School of Law in 1968.
Sentelle practiced law as anassociate attorney with the firm Uzzell & Dumont inAsheville, North Carolina, from 1968 to 1970.[1] He was anAssistant United States Attorney inCharlotte, North Carolina, from 1970 to 1974.
Sentelle served as aMecklenburg Country District Court Judge from 1974 to 1977.[2] He stepped down from the bench in 1977 to become apartner with the law firm of Tucker, Hicks, Sentelle, Moon & Hodge in Charlotte until his appointment to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina in 1985.[3]
In addition to his practice and judicial service, Sentelle has held several teaching positions. He was a visiting professor at theUniversity of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1977. He was a visiting professor at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1991 to 1992.[2] In 1993, he taught as an adjunct professor atFlorida State University College of Law.[4] Sentelle was an adjunct professor at theGeorge Mason School of Law from 2002 to 2009.[4]
Sentelle is also a founding member and was the longtime president of the Edward Bennett Williams Inn of the American Inns of Court, one of D.C.'s most prestigious associations of white-collar prosecutors and defense attorneys. He won the 2008 American Inns of Court professionalism award in recognition of his service to the Inn.
With support from SenatorJesse Helms, Sentelle was nominated by PresidentRonald Reagan on July 25, 1985, to a seat on theUnited States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina vacated by JudgeWoodrow W. Jones. He was confirmed by theUnited States Senate on October 16, 1985, and received his commission on October 17, 1985. His service was terminated on October 19, 1987, due to elevation to the court of appeals.[2]
Sentelle was nominated by President Reagan on February 2, 1987, to the seat on theU.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated by JudgeAntonin Scalia, who was elevated to the U.S. Supreme Court. Sentelle was confirmed by the Senate by a 87–0 vote on September 9, 1987. He received his commission on September 11, 1987; and entered into service on October 19, 1987. He served as Chief Judge from 2008 to 2013.[2] He assumedsenior status on February 12, 2013[2][5] and inactive senior status in 2023.[6] During his time on the D.C. Circuit, Sentelle served with five future Supreme Court justices:Ruth Bader Ginsburg,Clarence Thomas,John Roberts,Brett Kavanaugh, andKetanji Brown Jackson. In addition, many of his law clerks went on to clerk for Supreme Court justices, earning Sentelle a reputation as a "feeder judge."
From 1992 to 2006, Sentelle served as the presiding judge of the Division of the D.C. Circuit for the Appointment of Independent Counsel. During his tenure, the division appointedKenneth Starr to replaceRobert B. Fiske who had been appointed by Attorney GeneralJanet Reno to investigate the allegations against PresidentBill Clinton with respect to theWhitewater Affair.
Sentelle was appointed to theUnited States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (FISCR) on May 19, 2018, and became the presiding judge of that court on May 20, 2020.[7]
In addition to his work on the D.C. Circuit and the FISCR, Sentelle served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference from 2008 to 2013, and as the chair of that committee from 2010 to 2013.
Several of Sentelle's former law clerks have gone onto become judges themselves.Neil Gorsuch (1991–1992) serves as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.Joan Larsen (1993-1994, 6th Cir.),Allison Jones Rushing (2008-2009, 4th Cir.),Beth Robinson (1989-1990, 2nd Cir.), andAndrew Oldham (2005-2006, 5th Cir.) currently serve as Circuit Court Judges. (President Trump considered nominating both Larsen and Rushing for the Supreme Court seat currently occupied by JusticeAmy Coney Barrett, while Robinson is the first openly gay judge on the federal appellate bench.)Liam P. Hardy (2010–2011) is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.Steven C. Seeger (1997-1998, N.D. Ill.),Richard E. Myers II (1998-1999, E.D.N.C.), andFrank DeArmon Whitney (1988-1989, W.D.N.C.) currently serve as U.S. District Judges. Adam Conrad (2005–2006) serves on the North Carolina Business Court. David E. Jones (1991–1992) formerly served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Other Sentelle clerks have gone on to serve as executive branch officials.Kristen Silverberg (1998–1999) served as the ambassador to the E.U.Maureen Ohlhausen (1994–1995) served as a member and acting chair of the Federal Trade Commission.Nathan Sales (2000-01) served as under secretary of state for civilian security, democracy, and human rights and the State Department coordinator for counterterrorism in the first Trump Administration.
Still other Sentelle clerks have become academics, includingJonathan H. Adler at William & Mary, Adam White at George Mason University,Nathan Sales at Syracuse, and Stephen F. Smith at Notre Dame.
While on the D.C. Circuit, Sentelle was part of two three-judge panels that overturned the convictions ofOliver North andJohn Poindexter. On the North panel, Sentelle and JudgeLaurence Silberman voted to overturn North's conviction while Chief JudgePatricia Wald dissented.[8] On the Poindexter panel, Sentelle and JudgeDouglas H. Ginsburg voted to overturn the conviction with JudgeAbner J. Mikva dissenting.[9]
In Cobell v. Norton, 240 F.3d 1081 (D.C. Cir. 2001), Sentelle (joined by JudgesStephen Williams andJudith Rogers) largely affirmed the District Court's finding that the federal government had mismanaged Indian trust funds. The government ultimately settled the case—one of the largest class actions in history—in 2009.[10]
In 2007, inBoumediene v. Bush, 375 U.S. App. D.C. 48, Sentelle concurred with JudgeArthur Raymond Randolph, relying onJohnson v. Eisentrager to uphold theMilitary Commissions Act of 2006's suspension ofhabeas corpus forenemy combatants as constitutional. JudgeRogers dissented. That decision was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 2004, New York Times reporterJudith Miller refused to comply with a grand jury subpoena seeking documents and testimony about her conversations with a confidential source. Because of her noncompliance, the District Court held Miller in civil contempt and she spent 85 days in jail. In In re Grand Jury Subpoena, Judith Miller, 397 F.3d 964 (D.C. Cir. 2005), Sentelle (joined by JudgesKaren Henderson andDavid Tatel) affirmed Miller's conviction, though the three judges disagreed about the existence and scope of a reporter's common-law privilege to resist grand jury subpoenas.[11]
In National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning, Sentelle (with Judges Henderson andThomas Griffith) held that President Obama's extensive use of recess appointments violated the Constitution, clarifying the President's limited Article II authority to fill judicial and executive appointments during inter-session recesses.[12] The Supreme Court unanimously affirmed, though a majority of justices declined to adopt Sentelle's precise constitutional rationale.[13]
Sentelle served as a delegate to the 1984 Republican National Convention. He previously published several works of crime fiction under the pseudonym Clyde Haywood.
Sentelle is aFreemason. He is a recipient of the Joseph Montfort Medal from the Grand Lodge of North Carolina.[14]
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina 1985–1987 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit 1987–2013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit 2008–2013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Judge of theUnited States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review 2018–2023 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Presiding Judge of theUnited States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review 2020–2023 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
