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Judge John D. Bates
Judge John D. Bates was appointed United States District Judge in December 2001. He
graduated from Wesleyan University in 1968 and received a J.D. from the University of Maryland
School of Law in 1976. From 1968 to 1971, he served in the United States Army, including a tour
in Vietnam as a First Lieutenant.
Judge Bates clerked for Judge Roszel C. Thomsen of the United States District Court for
the District of Maryland from 1976 to 1977 and was an associate at Steptoe & Johnson from 1977
to 1980. He served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1980
to 1997, and was Chief of the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office from 1987 to 1997. Judge
Bates was on detail as Deputy Independent Counsel for the Whitewater investigation from 1995
to mid-1997. In 1998, he joined the Washington law firm of Miller & Chevalier, where he was Chair
of the Government Contracts/Litigation Department and a member of the Executive Committee.
Judge Bates has served on the Advisory Committee for Procedures of the D.C. Circuit and
on the Civil Justice Reform Committee for the District Court. He served as Treasurer of the D.C.
Bar, and as Chairman of the Publications Committee of the D.C. Bar. Judge Bates also served as
the Chairman of the Litigation Section of the Federal Bar Association and was a member of the
Board of Directors of the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.
In 2005, Judge Bates was appointed by Chief Justice Rehnquist to serve on the U.S. Judicial
Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management. In 2006, he was
appointed by Chief Justice Roberts to serve as a judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court, and he served as Presiding Judge from 2009 until 2013, when he completed
his term of service on that court.
Judge Bates was then appointed by Chief Justice Roberts, with the concurrence of the
Judicial Conference, to serve as the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and
served in that capacity until January 1, 2015. He served as Chair of the Advisory Committee on
Civil Rules of the Judicial Conference from 2015 to 2020, and as Chair of the Committee on Rules
of Practice and Procedure (the Standing Committee) since 2020.