Who Is The Nation's Foremost Federal Judge?

Did you know that there's an actual award, including a cash prize, for this distinction?

Would it be a prominent public intellectual, like Judge Richard Posner or Judge Guido Calabresi? Would it be a leading feeder judge, like Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, or Judge Merrick Garland? Would it be someone with a foot on both of these camps, like Judge Alex Kozinski?

As it turns out… there’s a prize for that!

I pride myself on knowing a decent amount about the federal judiciary; I’m a self-professed Article III Groupie, after all. But I didn’t know until recently about the Edward J. Devitt Award, which was intended to serve as “the Nobel Prize for the federal judiciary.”

It hasn’t quite achieved that status, at least in terms of fame, but it still sounds quite nice. Here’s more about it from the Dwight D. Opperman Foundation, which presents the award each year:

Dwight D. Opperman, former president and chairman of West Publishing Company, created the Devitt Award 34 years ago to bestow a high honor to an Article III federal judge for distinguished and exceptional service. He joined forces with then Chief Justice Warren Burger, and chose to name the award after his esteemed friend, Judge Edward J. Devitt, who epitomized the highest standard of the federal bench. The Devitt is the longest running and most prestigious award to be bestowed upon an Article III federal judge.

The award comes with a $15,000 cash prize. Prior winners of the Devitt Award include such leading luminaries of the federal judiciary as Judge John Minor Wisdom (5th Cir.), Judge Jack B. Weinstein (E.D.N.Y.), Judge Richard S. Arnold (8th Cir.), Judge Frank M. Coffin (1st Cir.), and Judge Edward R. Becker (3d Cir.). The selection committee consists each year of three federal judges: a U.S. Supreme Court justice, a U.S. Court of Appeals judge, and a U.S. District Court judge.

I found out about the Devitt Award from my former boss, Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain (9th Cir.), who last week spoke at a ceremony at the U.S. Supreme Court where the Devitt Award was presented to his longtime colleague, Judge Edward Leavy. Four justices — Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Kennedy, Justice Thomas, and Justice Sotomayor — attended the presentation. (So did Gloria Allred, a friend of Dwight Opperman’s widow, Julie C. Opperman.)

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Here’s an excerpt from Judge O’Scannlain’s eloquent remarks:

Ed Leavy is unique. No other judge with whom I have had occasion to interact possesses in one being his dignity, sagacity, humility, warmth and gentle humor. Judge Leavy is the genuine article. As prominent as he is on the second highest rung of the federal judicial ladder he is utterly unpretentious. Indeed, he is the quintessential country lawyer and hops farmer in style and demeanor yet is smarter than all of us. He personally engages with anyone he meets. He and his gracious wife Eileen have raised an exemplary family: many of their children and grandchildren have traveled from the far west to share this special celebration today. Ed is sincere yet is respectful of others while maintaining his own standards. If he must disagree with a colleague, he disagrees agreeably—he is the model of collegiality.

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Judge Leavy — he was (and still is) Judge O’Scannlain’s neighbor in Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse — and I concur with all of my former boss’s comments. Congratulations to Judge Leavy on this richly deserved honor, and thanks to him for his almost six decades of service to the state and federal judiciaries.

Hon. Edward Leavy to receive 2015 Devitt Award [Dwight D. Opperman Foundation]
Judge Edward Leavy To Receive 2015 Devitt Award [United States Courts]
Devitt Award prestigious and unusual [Minneapolis Star Tribune]

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